Nanomaterial Technologies for Long-Life Li-ion Batteries

ABSTRACT: Military communications satellites are trending to higher pulse power and total energy capacity levels in order to meet exponentially increasing satellite communications capacity requirements. As the demand for on-board power and total energy-storage capacity has continued to increase, Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the new industry standard for use as rechargeable secondary batteries in space vehicles. Although numerous Li-ion batteries have been spaceflight qualified over the past ten years by both domestic and foreign suppliers, most of these batteries use electrode and electrolyte material technologies that are nearly 20 years old. As such, the only way to achieve the desired high cycle life with current spaceflight-qualified electrode and electrolyte materials is to substantially limit the allowed depth-of-discharge (DOD) and to control the operating temperature. Thus there exists considerable need within the spacecraft community develop advanced lithium-ion battery materials possessing considerable cycle-life while maintaining or exceeding the specific energy of current state-of-the-art (SOTA) technologies. To address this need, ADA Technologies, Inc., proposes to continue advancements made in Phase I to develop a highly stable lithium-ion cell system comprised of advanced nanocomposite electrodes and ionic liquid electrolytes enabling significant improvements cycle life. BENEFIT: The increased performance enabled by the proposed technology will allow for advanced lithium-ion batteries to meet the life-cycle and cycle-life performance requirements needed for current and future military and communication satellites. Furthermore, the developments undertaken will substantially improve the state-of-the-art of lithium-ion battery devices. Thus if successful, the resulting technology could have substantial commercial impact as the overall market for energy storage devices is estimated to be in excess of $6B per year. Spin-off applications include hybrid electric vehicles, utility grid applications, and personal electronics among others.