SBIR Phase I: Rechargeable Carbon-Oxygen Battery for Ultra-Low-Cost Renewable Energy Storage

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is a breakthrough in long-duration energy storage for renewable electricity sources. This project will enable a new rechargeable carbon-oxygen battery utilizing ultra-low-cost storage media converting intermittent solar/wind power into on-demand power, achieving 100% carbon-free electricity at a cost that undercuts conventional fossil fuel generation. Its high energy density, ~3x that of lithium ion batteries at the system level, will enable longer range electric transportation. Successful development of this technology, enabled by the key prototyping steps carried out in this project, will have commercial impact on a range of storage applications. Stationary storage end-users include: Off-grid (islands, commercial, military) solar-plus-storage; electric utilities and homeowners; solar/wind power plant owners and farmers; and data centers requiring low-cost, green and more reliable storage. Transportation end-users include: manufacturers of electric vehicles, trucks, ships, and aircraft requiring longer range at lower cost and improved safety. This project will also advance the materials science of carbon chemistry and provide a novel system design framework for this new class of battery. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will advance this new carbon-oxygen battery technology by developing a novel simple system design and key improvements in materials and components, demonstrating the high efficiency of Li-ion batteries, the ultra-low-cost storage media of carbon and oxygen, and high energy density. Hundreds of charge-discharge cycles have been demonstrated in laboratory proof-of-concept experiments, reducing scientific risk and presenting the opportunity to progress the technology through initial prototype stages. The key research objectives are to build and test the first prototype to demonstrate the novel system design, mature the component material set, and design the full-scale system. Expected results are the demonstration of hundreds of cycles with this first prototype, substantially improved materials performance at continuous cycling rates, and a multi-physics system model including fluid flow, thermal management and high-pressure gas storage, validating the feasibility of the cost and energy density targets. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.