Northeast Center for Chemical Energy Storage(NECCES)

Title: NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES)Director: M. Stanley Whittingham, Distinguished Professor, Binghamton University NECCES’s primary scientific goal is to develop a fundamental understanding of (a) the key electrode reactions in electrochemical energy storage, what their rates are and how they can be controlled to improve electrochemical performance; and (b) the structural transformations that occur in an electrode composite material, from the local through the meso to the macro-scale, throughout the lifetime of the functioning battery. Such an understanding will help better define the ultimate intrinsic limitations to lithium insertion reactions, the core of today’s rechargeable batteries, and allow the gap between the theoretical and practical energy density to be closed. The NECCES team will tackle the Center’s objectives through a synergistic combination of theory, synthesis and characterization. The team structure will comprise two reaction/materials thrusts, with a cross-cutting characterization effort with theory/modeling integrated through all three thrusts. In thrust 1, emphasis is on the material itself in a study of the transport and structural transformations in two classes of model materials ­­– transition metal layered oxides and materials, such as vanadyl phosphate, that can incorporate two alkali ions.Both these systems have the theoretical potential of attaining over 900 Wh/kg. In thrust 2, the impact of ionic and electronic transport on structural transformations at the electrode and interphase level will be studied, and design rules to optimize transport in the complex environment of a real electrode encompassing multiple components will be developed. Thrust 3 will push the development of state-of-the-art characterization tools to provide ex-situ, in-situ and operando characterization to enable a complete understanding of the reactions and structural changes that occur in real electrochemical systems. This project will close the gap between the theoretical and practical energy density for intercalation reaction-based electrodes, attain reversible multi-electron transfer in a cathode material for a range of alkali metals, and determine the role of anion-redox in a cathode’s reaction mechanism. It will build a fundamental understanding of transport in solids and electrode structures that will be applicable beyond energy storage. It will also create new characterization tools for use by the whole science community.