New Polymer Electrolyte for High Voltage Lithium Batteries

The need for high power batteries is escalating as new products and services emerge in the marketplace. For instance, as hybrid electric vehicles begin to find greater acceptance in the market, high power batteries will be in increasing demand. Loadleveling in urban areas is more of an issue in energy policy and will require high power batteries. In addition, high power, high energy density batteries are increasingly sought for personal use by consumers and by the military for a variety ofapplications. Lithium continues to dominate the development of new batteries, because of the high energy and power densities afforded by this element. Although present battery chemistries have successfully exploited the properties of this material, morepowerful systems could be developed if a sufficiently stable electrolyte could be identified. The proposed effort seeks to demonstrate such an electrolyte.The proposed Phase I effort will involve the synthesis and characterization of a new polymer electrolyte that will allow the development of a 5V lithium battery. This electrolyte will be composed of a newly developed polymer and lithium salts both ofwhich have demonstrated electrochemical stability to >5V vs Li/Li+. The proposed effort will include synthesis of polymer electrolytes and complete electrochemical and thermal characterization to establish the limits of their thermodynamic stability.Single cell battery tests will culminate the effort as the demonstration of feasibility.New, high power batteries are needed now to run the myriad of portable electronic devices that continue to pour into the market. As electric vehicles and electric deregulation begin to take hold, a 5V lithium battery will be in even greater demand. Inthe military market, the US Army is patching together a variety of portable power systems to meet the high-power, high-energy demands of the electronic battlefield so that a 5V electrochemical couple would be very desirable. The aerospace industry is alsoin need of compact, safe high energy, power systems.