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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Quantifying Species Populations in Multivalent Borohydride Electrolytes

Multivalent batteries represent an important beyond Li-ion energy storage concept. The prospect of calcium batteries, in particular, has emerged recently due to novel electrolyte demonstrations, especially that of a ground-breaking combination of the borohydride salt Ca(BH 4 ) 2 dissolved in tetrahydrofuran. Recent analysis of magnesium and calcium versions of this electrolyte led to the identification of divergent speciation pathways for Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ despite identical anions and solvents, owing to differences in cation size and attendant flexibility of coordination. To test these proposed speciation equilibria and develop a more quantitative understanding thereof, we have applied pulsed-field-gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy to study these electrolytes. Additionally, concentration-dependent variation in anion diffusivities and solution dipole relaxations, interpreted with the aid of molecular dynamics simulations, confirms these divergent Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ speciation pathways. These results provide a more quantitative description of the electroactive species populations. We find that these species are present in relatively small quantities, even in the highly active Ca(BH 4 ) 2 /tetrahydrofuran electrolyte. This finding helps interpret previous characterizations of metal deposition efficiency and morphology control and thus provides important fundamental insight into the dynamic properties of multivalent electrolytes for next-generation batteries.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigating Sodium Ordering for Enhanced Solid Solution Behavior in Layered NaNiO 2 Cathodes

Abstract The O‐type layered nickel oxides suffer from undesired cooperative Jahn–Teller distortion stemming from Ni 3+ ions and undergo multiple biphasic structural transformations during the insertion/extraction of large Na + ions, posing a significant challenge to stabilize the structural integrity. We present here a systematic investigation of the impact of substituting 5 % divalent (Mg 2+ ) or trivalent (Al 3+ or Co 3+ ) ions for Ni 3+ to alleviate Na + ion ordering and perturb the Jahn–Teller effect to enhance structural stability. We gauge a fundamental understanding of the Mg−O and Na−O or Mg−O−Na bonding interactions, noting that the ionicity of the Mg−O bond deshields the electronic cloud of oxygen from Na + ions. Furthermore, calculations of the Van Vleck distortion modes reveal a relaxation of NiO 6 octahedra from Jahn–Teller distortion and a reduced electron density at the interlayer with Mg 2+ substitution. Long‐range ( operando X‐ray diffraction) and short‐range (magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance) structural analyses provide insights into reduced ordering, allowing a stable continuous solid solution. Overall, Mg‐substitution results in a high‐capacity retention of ~96 % even after 100 cycles, showcasing the potential of this strategy for overcoming the structural instabilities and enhancing the performance of sodium‐ion batteries.

Sada, Krishnakanth↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation of glass-ceramic lithium thiophosphate solid electrolytes using NMR and neutron scattering

Solid-state Li batteries require solid electrolytes which have high Li+ conductivity and good chemical/mechanical compatibility with Li metal anodes and high energy cathodes. Structure/function correlations which relate local bonding to macroscopic properties are needed to guide development of new solid electrolyte materials. This study combines diffraction measurements with solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR) and neutron pair distribution function (nPDF) analysis to probe the short-range vs. long-range structure of glass-ceramic Li 3 PS 4 -based solid electrolytes. Here, we demonstrate how different synthesis conditions (e.g., solvent selection and thermal processing) affect the resulting polyanionic network. More specifically, structures with high P coordination numbers (e.g., PS 4 3– and P 2 S 7 4– ) correlate with higher Li + mobility compared to other polyanions (e.g., (PS 3 ) n n– chains and P 2 S 6 4– ). Overall, this work demonstrates how ssNMR and nPDF can be used to draw key structure/function correlations for solid-state superionic conductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1977

Comparative assessment of orbital and terrestrial central power plants

Recent studies of the space power system (SPS) are integrated into a total social cost framework developed for terrestrial central electric power systems. Total social costs include the projection of commercial economics to the time frame of interest as well as the federal research, development and demonstration (RD&D) costs, the health impacts, the resources required, the environmental impacts and other social costs. The SPS system is limited to transporting all materials from the earth's surface to geosynchronous orbit. Only silicon photovoltaic is considered as the SPS energy conversion technique. Costs and impacts of the LWR are considered as a reference for nuclear systems, and the low BTU coal gasification with combined cycle gas and steam turbines is considered as a reference for a fossil central electric plant. The ground solar systems considered are solar thermal using the central receiver approach with thermal storage, and solar photovoltaic using the silicon cell with battery storage.

Caputo, R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Corrosion evaluation of metal foams in eutectic molten salts for high temperature latent heat energy storage application

High-temperature Thermal Energy Storage (TES) has drawn great attention as a technology that can increase the role and profitability of micro nuclear reactors in the decentralized clean energy market. Various research needs have been proposed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in "the Integrated Energy Systems: 2020 Roadmap" with the goal of utilizing the high temperature of 550 degrees or more generated in the 4th generation reactor to industrial purposes from the standpoint of integrated energy systems [1]. With the recent development of the 4th generation nuclear power plant, including micro nuclear reactor, there is a great deal of interest in researching how to efficiently couple a heat source to an industrial process through thermal processing. Texas A&M University (TAMU) and INL are currently collaborating to develop a novel latent heat storage design called HITB (Heat pipe-Integrated Thermal Battery). As part of the small-scale experimental demonstration research for HITB, a study for storage medium selection was conducted at TAMU. Eutectic salts have attracted interest as high-temperature heat storage medium for HITB. Especially, chloride molten salts and fluoride molten salts are considered promising candidates due to their high melting temperature, thermal stability, and high latent heat of fusion. Since eutectic salts have poor thermal conductivity in general, it is critical to distribute materials with high thermal conductivity evenly to facilitate the charging and discharging of heat. In this study, metal foam was considered in the HITB system to overcome the poor heat transfer characteristics of eutectic salts. In order to improve heat transfer, it is necessary to study materials with high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistant to molten salts, such as fins, extended surfaces, particles, microcapsulation, or foam structure. Porous structure of copper or aluminum can increase heat transfer area, form a thermal transfer network, and increase the effective thermal conductivity of thermal storage medium [2]. Since the melting temperature is required to be at least 450? in the current HITB design, various eutectic salts are being considered. FLiNaK and FLiBe, which are famous for fluoride salts, are good candidates, but due to the sharp rise in the price of LiF recently, they are excluded for economic reasons to be applied to large-capacity thermal energy storage. On the other hand, chloride salts are very cheap and easy to obtain, have a high melting temperature, and have a high latent heat of fusion, so they are recently in the spotlight as a phase change material. However, because of the hygroscopic nature of chloride salts, HCl gas due to impurity is easy to be released and is particularly vulnerable to corrosion. Chloride eutectic salts have been tested and suggested for metal alloys that are particularly resistant to corrosion, such as SS304, SS316, Hastelloy, Inconel 625, Incoloy 800H, which has low thermal conductivity, and is very expensive [3-6]. Porous materials with high thermal conductivity such as copper and aluminum have been tested for stability in fluids such as paraffin or water as metal foam or metal fin structures, but high temperature corrosion tests were not performed on various eutectic salts yet. Therefore, this study investigated the high temperature corrosion characteristics of metal alloys, such as C10100 foam, C10100 plate, 6101 alloy foam, and SS316 plate, while immersed in the candidate eutectic salts. A total of 20 tests for SS316 coupons and 10 tests for C10100 coupons were performed to ensure the repeatability of the present measurements. Since it is difficult to completely remove the salt inside metal foam due to the complex inner structure of the metal foam, only the surface condition was observed with a microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image, except for measuring the corrosion rate and average mass loss.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

CHESS: The future direct geometry spectrometer at the second target station

CHESS, chopper spectrometer examining small samples, is a planned direct geometry neutron chopper spectrometer designed to detect and analyze weak signals intrinsic to small cross sections (e.g., small mass, small magnetic moments, or neutron absorbing materials) in powders, liquids, and crystals. CHESS is optimized to enable transformative investigations of quantum materials, spin liquids, thermoelectrics, battery materials, and liquids. The broad dynamic range of the instrument is also well suited to study relaxation processes and excitations in soft and biological matter. The 15 Hz repetition rate of the Second Target Station at the Spallation Neutron Source enables the use of multiple incident energies within a single source pulse, greatly expanding the information gained in a single measurement. Furthermore, the high flux grants an enhanced capability for polarization analysis. This enables the separation of nuclear from magnetic scattering or coherent from incoherent scattering in hydrogenous materials over a large range of energy and momentum transfer. This paper presents optimizations and technical solutions to address the key requirements envisioned in the science case and the anticipated uses of this instrument.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

High Performance Computing Peak Shaving for Microreactor Operation

There are multiple nuclear microreactors currently under development that are designed to provide autonomous power for as many as ten or more years without refueling and are designed to power high performance computing (HPC) datacenters. But the load-follow speeds for a nuclear microreactor will be much slower than grid power and slower than the power variance typical of a HPC system. HPC datacenters experience peak power load variance driven by several factors ranging from the operation of cooling systems to remove heat from the servers to supporting a wide range of user application workflows and architectures each with different power signatures. One mechanism to support the limited load-follow of a microreactor is peak shaving where an energy storage mechanism is used to shed peak load and reduce significant power variance. This work explores peak electrical load shaving using uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems designed for HPC support in the context of peak shaving when operating using a nuclear microreactor with a load-follow limited to 10% of load per minute. Using a self contained HPC datacenter complete with stand-alone cooling system and provisioned with an x86 cluster, an ARM cluster, and a graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster, peak shaving for microreactor operation using the UPS battery backup is explored while running two classes of typical HPC user applications. HPC architecture suitability for microreactor operation under this type of peak shaving is examined.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lithium-Ion Battery Vent Gas Tools

The spreadsheets and Python scripts are used to determine vent gas hazard metrics (i.e. flammability limits, flame speed, etc.). These scripts and spreadsheets use open source literature to determine these hazard metrics. SAND2020-12540 O Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Baird, Austin↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigating Sodium Ordering for Enhanced Solid Solution Behavior in Layered NaNiO 2 Cathodes

The O-type layered nickel oxides suffer from undesired cooperative Jahn–Teller distortion stemming from Ni 3+ ions and undergo multiple biphasic structural transformations during the insertion/extraction of large Na + ions, posing a significant challenge to stabilize the structural integrity. We present here a systematic investigation of the impact of substituting 5 % divalent (Mg 2+ ) or trivalent (Al 3+ or Co 3+ ) ions for Ni 3+ to alleviate Na + ion ordering and perturb the Jahn–Teller effect to enhance structural stability. Here, we gauge a fundamental understanding of the Mg−O and Na−O or Mg−O−Na bonding interactions, noting that the ionicity of the Mg−O bond deshields the electronic cloud of oxygen from Na + ions. Furthermore, calculations of the Van Vleck distortion modes reveal a relaxation of NiO 6 octahedra from Jahn–Teller distortion and a reduced electron density at the interlayer with Mg 2+ substitution. Long-range (operando X-ray diffraction) and short-range (magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance) structural analyses provide insights into reduced ordering, allowing a stable continuous solid solution. Overall, Mg-substitution results in a high-capacity retention of ~96 % even after 100 cycles, showcasing the potential of this strategy for overcoming the structural instabilities and enhancing the performance of sodium-ion batteries.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nano Scale Poly(vinylidene chloride-co-acrylonitrile) Protection for Reversible and Stable Mg Anode Interface

This study investigates the efficacy of a polymer coating, PVdC-co-AN, in enhancing the stability and reversibility of the electrochemical Mg anode interface. Coated electrodes, immersed in a 0.25 M Mg(TFSI) 2 −0.50 M MgCl 2 /dimethoxyethane (DME) electrolyte, exhibit notable improvements. Cyclic voltammetry demonstrates consistent behavior with the coated electrode, while the uncoated electrode changes dramatically. During extended open circuit potential conditions, the coated electrode maintains much higher coulombic efficiency (93%) compared to the uncoated electrode (62%). Galvanostatic cycling test over 200 cycles further show the benefits of the PVdC-co-AN coating, decreasing the overpotential of Mg plating and improving long-term stability. The coated electrodes also demonstrate improved rate capability at higher current densities. Surface analysis reveals differences in the formation of byproducts between the coated and uncoated electrodes, indicating a more stable and uniform interface in the former. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy suggests that the polymer influences ion mobility through tuning the solvation environments which results in better kinetics and fewer byproducts. In summary, the study affirms that the PVdC-co-AN coating significantly improves the stability and performance of Mg electrochemistry, offering a promising advancement for practical battery applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

SIRENOpt.jl

SAND2026-22945O SIRENOpt.jl is a Julia software package for prototype hybrid power, storage, and platform dynamics. It integrates solar, wind, wave, hydrokinetic, diesel, generator, converter, battery, hydrogen, desalination, mooring, and floating-platform model interfaces in an automatic-differentiation-friendly simulation framework. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Michelen Strofer, Carlos [Sandia National Lab. (SN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hazmat Incident in New Mexico: Sulfur Dioxide Alarm

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is a multimission laboratory located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is one of three National Nuclear Security Administration research and development laboratories located in the United States. Recently, SNL’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) responded to an incident involving a sulfur dioxide (SO2)-fixed monitor, setting off the alarm inside a laboratory and in the adjacent hallway. The potential sources for the alarm were various experiments involving batteries and an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) in the immediate area.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Beyond Price-Taker: Multiscale Optimization of Wind and Battery Integrated Energy Systems

Integrating renewable energy into the electric grid is challenging due to the intermittency and variability of wind and other non-dispatchable resources. Integrated energy systems (IESs) combine multiple energy technologies (e.g., fossil, nuclear, renewables, storage) to reduce costs and improve flexibility and reliability. However, standard techno-economic analysis (TEA) methods often overestimate the benefits of IESs because they fail to account for energy market adjustments. This paper systematically studies the limitations of the prevailing price-taker assumption for TEA and optimization of hybrid energy systems. As an illustrative case study, we retrofit an existing wind farm in the RTS-GMLC test system (which loosely mimics the Southwest U.S.) with battery energy storage to form an IES. We show that the standard price-taker model overestimates the electricity revenue and the net present value (NPV) of the IES up to 178% and 30.4%, respectively, compared to our more rigorous multiscale optimization. These differences arise because introducing storage creates a more flexible resource that impacts the larger wholesale electricity market. Moreover, this work highlights the impact of the IES has on the market via various strategic bidding, and underscores the importance of moving beyond price-taker for optimal storage sizing and TEA of IESs. We conclude by discussing opportunities to generalize the proposed framework to other IESs, and highlight emerging research questions regarding the complex interactions between IESs and markets.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigating Ternary Li–Mg–Si Zintl Phase Formation and Evolution for Si Anodes in Li-Ion Batteries with Mg(TFSI) 2 Electrolyte Additive

Improved electrochemical performance of Si was recently reported by adding multivalent cation salts (such as Mg 2+ , Al 3+ , Ca 2+, etc.) in the electrolyte. This is achieved via the formation in an in situ manner of relatively more stable Li-M-Si ternary phases with less chemical reactivity. These phases stabilize Si anions and thus reduce side reactions with electrolytes at the surface and eventually benefit the overall electrochemistry. To understand the mechanism of ternary Zintl phase formation and its dynamics upon lithiation/delithiation, high-resolution solid-state 7 Li and 29 Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are utilized to directly probe the local Li and Si environments on Si electrodes harvested from coin and pouch cells at various states of (de)lithiation. The NMR spectra along with the electrochemical characterization reveal that lithiation of Si starts from the surface Si-O layer further confirmed by 7 Li– 29 Si cross-polarization NMR. Lithiation progresses with heterogeneous silicon clustering with Si -4 anions at high states of lithiation. At a fully lithiated state, the formation of overlithiated Si species is detected. At a low-voltage region (below 100 mV), direct evidence for Mg-ion insertion is found, postulated by two possible mechanisms: ion exchange with fully or overlithiated binary domains (Li 3.75+x Si) and/or a coinsertion with slightly underlithiated domains (similar to Li 3.55 Si). Upon delithiation, Li extraction starts from overlithiated Si domains. No evidence is found for electrochemical Mg removal. Evidence for a lithium-deficient Li y Mg 0.1 Si phase is found as a result of Li removal during charging. This investigation sheds light on the possible mechanisms of a new Si anode chemistry, which could enable the development of stable Si-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chemical interaction and enhanced interfacial ion transport in a ceramic nanofiber–polymer composite electrolyte for all-solid-state lithium metal batteries

This article reports the synergy between ceramic nanofibers and a polymer, and the enhanced interfacial Li-ion transport along the nanofiber/polymer interface in a solid-state ceramic/polymer composite electrolyte, in which a three-dimensional (3D) electrospun aluminum-doped Li 0.33 La 0.557 TiO 3 (LLTO) nanofiber network is embedded in a polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) matrix. Strong chemical interaction occurs between the nanofibers and the polymer matrix. Addition of the ceramic nanofibers into the polymer matrix results in the dehydrofluorination of the PVDF chains, deprotonation of the –CH 2 moiety and amorphization of the polymer matrix. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra reveal that lithium ions transport via three pathways: (i) intra-polymer transport, (ii) intra-nanofiber transport, and (iii) interfacial polymer/nanofiber transport. In addition, lithium phosphate is coated on the LLTO nanofiber surface before the nanofibers are embedded into the polymer matrix. The presence of lithium phosphate at the LLTO/polymer interface further enhances the chemical interaction between the nanofibers and the polymer, which promotes the lithium ion transport along the polymer/nanofiber interface. This in turn improves the ionic conductivity and electrochemical cycling stability of the nanofiber/polymer composite. As a result, the flexible LLTO/Li 3 PO 4 /polymer composite electrolyte membrane exhibits an ionic conductivity of 5.1 × 10 -4 S cm -1 at room temperature and an electrochemical stability window of 5.0 V vs. Li/Li + . A symmetric Li|electrolyte|Li half-cell shows a low overpotential of 50 mV at a constant current density of 0.5 mA cm -2 for more than 800 h. In addition, a full cell is constructed by sandwiching the composite electrolyte between a lithium metal anode and a LiFePO 4 -based cathode. Such an all-solid-state lithium metal battery exhibits excellent cycling performance and rate capability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Battery Lifecycle Framework

The Battery Lifecycle (BLC) Framework is an open-source platform that provides tools to visualize and share battery data from material characterization, cell testing, manufacturing, and field testing through the technology development cycle. BLC has three components: data importers, a front-end for querying the data and creating visualizations, and an application programming interface to provide access to the data from Python. BLC has been deployed for tracking the development of a battery from the lab to a manufacturing line and systems installed in the field and for comparing studies of multiple cells of the same battery chemistry and configuration. The code was developed around Redash, a robust open-source extract-transform-load engine. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2021-4546 O

De Angelis, Valerio↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantitative Analysis of Origin of Lithium Inventory Loss and Interface Evolution over Extended Fast Charge Aging in Li Ion Batteries

During the extreme fast charging (XFC) of lithium-ion batteries, lithium inventory loss (LLI) and reaction mechanisms at the anode/electrolyte interface are crucial factors in performance and safety. Determining the causes of LLI and quantifying them remain an essential challenge. We present mechanistic research on the evolution and interactions of aging mechanisms at the anode/electrolyte interface. We used NMC 532 /graphite pouch cells charged at rates of 1, 6, and 9 C up to 1000 cycles for our investigation. The cell components were characterized after cycling using electrochemical measurements, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, 7 Li solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The results indicate that cells charged at 1 C exhibit no Li plating, and the increase of SEI thickness is the dominant source of the Li loss. In contrast, Li loss in cells charged at 9 C is related to the formation of the metallic plating layers (42%) the SEI layer (38.1%) and irreversible intercalation into the bulk graphite (19%). XPS analysis suggests that the charging rate has little influence on the evolution of SEI composition. The interactions between competing aging mechanisms were evaluated by a correlation analysis. In conclusion, the quantitative method established in this work provides a comprehensive analytical framework for understanding the synergistic coupling of anodic degradation mechanisms, forecasting SEI failure scenarios, and assessing the XFC lithium-ion battery capacity fade.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Transition from Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann to Arrhenius Ion-Conducting Behavior in Poly(Ethyl Acrylate)-Based Solid Polymer Electrolytes via Succinonitrile Plasticizer Addition

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) offer potential advantages over liquid electrolytes, including flexibility, safety, and processability. However, they suffer from low room-temperature ionic conductivity. Recently, it has been reported a poly(ethyl acrylate) based (polyEA) SPE, by incorporating 50 wt% of succinonitrile (SN) solid plasticizer, 30 wt% of lithium salt and 5 wt% of fluoroethylene carbonate additive, which achieves a high room-temperature ionic conductivity of 1.01 × 10 −3 S cm −1 (Nat. Nanotechnol, 2022, 17, 768-776). This novel SPE exhibits stability against Li 0 and anodic stability up to 4.9 V vs Li + /Li. However, the specific mechanism responsible for its high ionic conductivity remains elusive. In this work, by adjusting the weight ratio of SN in the SPE, a transition from Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann to Arrhenius ion-conducting behavior is observed. It is demonstrated that the addition of SN leads to the gradual decoupling of Li-ion from the polymer backbone and its coordination with SN, as revealed by 6 Li solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. As a result, Li-ion migration primarily occurs through SN rather than the segmental motion of the polymer backbone. Performances of the SPE in Cu||Li, Li||Li and a LiFePO 4 ||Li pouch cells are shown to demonstrate the commercial viability of this SPE in Li 0 -anode solid-state batteries.

Electrochemistry↗