Energy Frontiers Research Center (EFRC) for

Synthetic Control Across Length-scales for Advancing Rechargeables (SCALAR)

Sarah Tolbert, University of California Los Angeles (Director)

There is a critical need to develop new generations of electrochemical energy storage materials in order to address key challenges that currently face Li-ion battery technology: inadequate gravimetric capacity, limited power capabilities, and performance degradation over time. The scientific mission of this EFRC is to leverage the power of modern materials synthesis and characterization to both create and understand, at a fundamental level, a new generation of battery materials that can overcome many of the weaknesses intrinsic to archetypal intercalation hosts currently used today. Within the SCALAR-EFRC, the objectives are to rethink the chemistry associated with secondary ion batteries, dramatically expand the range of materials and chemistries that can be employed, increase safety and stability by controlling conductivity, and control architectures and interfaces to enable the use of very high capacity materials.

The center is organized into three thrusts, each focused on a separate challenge within battery technology.  Thrust 1 aims to increase capacity by creating systems that can undergo multi-electron oxidation/reduction reactions.  This will be achieved either by combining the reactions of anions and cations, or by using metals that can perform two-electron reactions.  Thrust 2 aims to reduce energy losses in battery systems by reducing resistive losses.  This will be accomplished by creating electrode materials and polymer binders with intrinsically high electronic and ionic conductivity.  Finally, thrust 3 aims to improve stability, particularly in electrode materials that show a volume change upon cycling.  A combination of architectural and interfacial engineering, mixed with catalysis to favor desired reactions, will be used in pursuit of this goal.  This broad range of materials synthesis and fabrication will be coupled with theoretical modeling and high-level materials characterization.  We contend that the next generation of battery systems will emerge from enhanced scientific understanding in materials, architectures, and interfaces and that a multidimensional problem of this type is best addressed by a collaborative team of scientists and engineers.  Our shared research vision is facilitated by the geographical proximity of the Southern California universities involved, as well as the national laboratory partner, allowing researchers to move freely between institutions in pursuit of fundamental advances in battery materials.