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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 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

A high power, low temperature molten sodium battery

Low temperature molten sodium batteries promise low-cost, grid-scale energy storage using earth-abundant materials. To be economically viable, they must demonstrate high current (power) at relevant discharge times. Here a low temperature (135 °C) molten sodium battery with a NaI–AlCl 3 molten salt catholyte and NaSICON separator is explored, minimizing cell ohmic resistances and avoiding precipitation reactions in the molten salt catholyte. Operating currents were increased by as much as 100× compared to the energy-dense baseline design (197 Wh kg −1 and 248 mAh cm −2 ). Cells were cycled 100 times at 50 mA cm −2 (150 mW cm −2 ), averaging 99.8% coulombic efficiency and 79.7% energy efficiency for 30% of the theoretical capacity. Charging currents up to 250 mA cm −2 (1070 mW cm −2 ) are demonstrated for 10% of the theoretical capacity. Toward extending the accessible capacity in these high current systems, the volume ratio of catholyte molten salt to a graphite felt current collector was varied, altering (1) the local current density in the graphite felt and (2) the discharge time at a fixed current density. Optimizing the catholyte : felt ratio dramatically increased capacity utilization to 60% (102 mAh cm −2 ) at 50 mA cm −2 (150 mW cm −2 ) charge and 10 mA cm −2 discharge. This catholyte : felt ratio of 1.4 significantly decreased the cell impedance, minimizing electrode blocking effects seen previously in NaI–AlCl 3 catholytes. Together, these high areal loadings and impressive power outputs demonstrate how low temperature molten sodium batteries can compete with commercialized sodium systems operating at more than twice the temperature.

NaSICON↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electrochemical implications of modulating the solvation shell around redox active organic species in aqueous organic redox flow batteries

Significance The development of cost-effective batteries for long-duration grid scale energy storage will be accelerated using frameworks to rapidly screen and select battery components. Herein, we show that the solvent reorganization energy calculated from the Born equation (with reference to an electrolyte’s composition) is predictive of the electrolytes’ device level performance. This descriptor was found to correlate with key transport and kinetic properties over a range of electrolyte compositions and pH values, succinctly capturing the multicomponent interactions between the electrolyte salts and solvent. This enables the initial high-throughput screening of electrolyte candidates with minimal experimentation. Applied to aqueous redox flow batteries employing organic redox active species, we predict high-performance electrolyte compositions, enabling significantly enhanced device performance.

Sharma, Kritika↗
DOE OSTI2023

Mobile Energy Storage Systems: A Grid-Edge Technology to Enhance Reliability and Resilience

Increase in the number and frequency of widespread outages in recent years has been directly linked to drastic climate change necessitating better preparedness for outage mitigation. Severe weather conditions are experienced more frequently and on larger scales, challenging system operation and recovery time after an outage. In conclusion, the impact is more evident and concerning than before, considering the increased dependency on electricity in all aspects of our lives.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Power Conversion Systems Enabled by SiC BiDFET Device

The BiDirectional Field-Effect Transistor (BiDFET) can enable circuit topologies requiring four quadrant switches, that were earlier designed using discrete combinations of MOSFETs, IGBTs, GaN HEMTs and PiN diodes. The monolithic nature of the BiDFET allows lower device count, smaller switch volume, lower inductance, and simpler packaging, and hence more reliable and commercially viable implementation in power electronics converters. Furthermore, the matrix converter topologies, now feasible using BiDFETs, can eliminate the bulky and unreliable dc link capacitors or inductors required for conventional voltage-source or current-source converters in ac-ac and ac dc applications. The 1.2 kV BiDFET has the potential to disrupt all the applications utilizing 1.2 kV switches, including electric vehicle (EV) drivetrain, bidirectional EV chargers, industrial motor drives, solid-state transformers, datacenter power supplies, elevator drives, dc microgrids, energy storage grid integration, solid-state breakers, etc.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Coordinated Integration of Renewable Generation and Small Modular Reactors in Puerto Rico – an Initial Study

With a growing interest and awareness to support clean and sustainable sources of energy, several countries have ambitious plans to significantly increase the penetration of renewable energy in the grid. However, the sources of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, are highly intermittent and therefore can pose additional challenges to maintain reliable system operations; one such challenge being flexibility requirement. This paper addresses the concerns of increasing flexibility needs with high renewable penetration, and also study the coordinated integration of nuclear small modular reactor and inverter-based renewable generation sources in a system to achieve high levels of carbon-free and sustainable energy. In this paper, balancing reserve and short-term flexibility requirements were considered for the analysis purpose. Also, methodology was developed to calculate metrics for calculating short-term flexibility requirements in the time-scale of hours. Small modular reactors are considered as potential sources of generation flexibility to complement renewables.

Agrawal, Urmila↗
DOE OSTI2020

Data-Driven Day-Ahead PV Estimation Using Autoencoder-LSTM and Persistence Model

Inherent variability in photovoltaic (PV) and associated impacts on power systems is a challenging problem for both the PV owners and the grid operators. Existing statistical and machine learning algorithms typically work well for weather conditions similar to historical data. Furthermore, uncertain weather conditions pose a great challenge to the estimation accuracy of the estimation models. With the enhanced integration of intelligent electronic devices and the realization of associated automation in the power grid, renewable energy data is becoming more accessible, which can be utilized by deep learning models and improve the PV power generation estimation accuracy. In this paper, a hybrid deep learning model driven by external weather data is proposed to do day-ahead PV output forecasting at 15-minute-interval. The proposed model is motivated by the recent advancement of Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) networks and AutoEncoder (AE), which estimates uncertainties in sequence while making the prediction for complex weather conditions. Meanwhile, the persistence model (PM) is used to predict continuous sunny weather conditions. The forecasting result is validated with data from multiple locations

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Enhancing nanostructured nickel-rich lithium-ion battery cathodes via surface stabilization

Layered, nickel-rich lithium transition metal oxides have emerged as leading candidates for lithium-ion battery (LIB) cathode materials. High-performance applications for nickel-rich cathodes, such as electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage, demand electrodes that deliver high power without compromising cell lifetimes or impedance. Nanoparticle-based nickel-rich cathodes seemingly present a solution to this challenge due to shorter lithium-ion diffusion lengths compared to incumbent micrometer-scale active material particles. However, since smaller particle sizes imply that surface effects become increasingly important, particle surface chemistry must be well characterized and controlled to achieve robust electrochemical properties. Moreover, residual surface impurities can disrupt commonly used carbon coating schemes, which result in compromised cell performance. Using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, here we present a detailed characterization of the surface chemistry of LiNi0.8Al0.15Co0.05O2 (NCA) nanoparticles, ultimately identifying surface impurities that limit LIB performance. With this chemical insight, annealing procedures are developed that minimize these surface impurities, thus improving electrochemical properties and enabling conformal graphene coatings that reduce cell impedance, maximize electrode packing density, and enhance cell lifetime fourfold. Overall, this work demonstrates that controlling and stabilizing surface chemistry enables the full potential of nanostructured nickel-rich cathodes to be realized in high-performance LIB technology.

Lim, Jin-Myoung↗
DOE OSTI2025

GreenThrift: Optimizing Carbon and Cost for Flexible Residential Loads

Reducing buildings’ carbon emissions is an important sustainability challenge. While scheduling flexible building loads has been previously used for a variety of grid and energy optimizations, carbon footprint reduction using such flexible loads poses new challenges since such methods need to balance both energy and carbon costs while also reducing user inconvenience from delaying such loads. This paper highlights the potential conflict between electricity prices and carbon emissions and the resulting trade-offs in carbon-aware and cost-aware load scheduling. To address this trade-off, we propose GreenThrift, a home automation system that leverages the scheduling capabilities of smart appliances and knowledge of future carbon intensity and cost to reduce both the carbon emissions and costs of flexible energy loads. At the heart of GreenThrift is an optimization technique that automatically computes schedules based on user configurations and preferences. We evaluate the effectiveness of GreenThrift using real-world carbon intensity data, electricity prices, and load traces from multiple locations and across different scenarios and objectives. Our results show that GreenThrift can replicate the offline optimal and retains 97% of the savings when optimizing the carbon emissions. Moreover, we show how GreenThrift can balance the conflict between carbon and cost and retain 95.3% and 85.5% of the potential carbon and cost savings, respectively.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Membrane Considerations for the All-Iron Hybrid Flow Battery

The all-iron flow battery is currently being developed for grid scale energy storage. As with all flow batteries, the membrane in these systems must meet stringent demands for ionic conductivity while limiting unwanted reactant (Fe 3+ ) crossover. In addition, for the all-iron chemistry proton transport across the membrane is highly desirable to maintain the pH levels in the negative and positive electrolytes. Two membranes are considered, Nafion and an in-house developed composite based on Daramic (a commercial microporous separator) and poly(vinyl alcohol). Their performance is compared for various metrics specific to the all-iron flow battery chemistry.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Physics-Based Continuum Modeling for an Aqueous Rechargeable Zn/MnO 2 Battery

This study introduces a framework for modeling the aqueous Zn/MnO 2 rechargeable battery. A reaction system and a physics-based continuum model are proposed based on two reaction types, one involving insertion and the second related to dissolution and deposition of a solid reaction product. The model, fitted to empirical data, predicts voltage behavior and capacity limitations during cycling, identifying electrolytic zinc depletion as a limiting mechanism, depending on the original cell construction. The research suggests the need for further material characterization and reaction analysis, which will advance our understanding and facilitate the development of grid-scale energy storage solutions.

Electrochemistry↗
DOE OSTI2024

Redox Activity Modulation in Extended Fluorenone-Based Flow Battery Electrolytes with π-π Stacking Effect

Redox flow battery shows promise for grid-scale energy storage. Aqueous organic redox flow batteries are particularly popular due to their potentially low material cost and safe water-based electrolyte. Commonly, redox active molecules used in this field feature aromatic rings, and increasing π-aromatic conjugation has been a popular strategy to achieve high energy density, high power density, and reduced crossover in new material design. However, this approach can inadvertently hinder redox activity depending on redox mechanism. This study reveals the underlying π-π stacking effect in extended aromatic redox active compounds, where aromatic radical intermediates are involved in the redox process. We report a molecular design strategy to mitigate the negative effect of π-π stacking by altering solvation dynamics and introducing molecular steric hindrance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Miniaturize the Redox Flow Battery for Accelerated Materials Discovery and Development

Redox flow batteries are a promising technology for grid-scale energy storage. The aqueous organic redox flow battery is of particular interest for its potentially low material cost and sustainability. Developing novel organic active material for flow battery electrolytes typically entails molecular engineering toward desired properties, necessitating organic synthesis. In a research laboratory setting, the synthesis of specifically designed organic molecules featuring targeted functional groups is time and resources intensive. In the past, synthesizing materials required for battery testing has often required gram-scale production, presenting considerable constraints on the pace of novel organic material discovery. In this report, we introduce a miniaturized cell design that mandates only milligram-scale material synthesis while yielding testing outcomes equivalent or superior to those reported with other commercially available or homemade flow cells in the literature. The test results under various pH conditions validate the scale-down strategy to accelerate the flow battery material discovery and development using the newly designed mini cell. This approach offers researchers an efficient means to notably reduce the time and resources required to develop novel materials for flow batteries.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Value and Role of Pumped Storage Hydro under High Variable Renewables

A project team, led by GE Research, was tasked by the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) to study the value and role of pumped storage hydro (PSH) under high variable renewables. The study was majority funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) through a program managed by EERE’s Water Power Technologies Office. The project team for the study consists of three organizations – GE Research, GE Energy Consulting, and GE Renewables.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

SAMMY Modernization Efforts [Slides]

This presentation details several SAMMY modernization and maintenance goals, as well as the efforts made towards these goals and future plans for SAMMY.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Interoperability Maturity Roadmap Methodology, V1.3

The Interoperability Roadmap Methodology document supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) Interoperability Project’s efforts to advance interoperability as an essential component for the successful and more seamless integration of intelligent, communicating technologies into the electric power system. This proposed methodology supports the strategic approach to advance interoperability described in the GMLC Interoperability Project’s Interoperability Strategic Vision: Enabling an Interactive Grid. That document proposes engaging an ecosystem of businesses interested in integrating smart technology with the electric power system to develop an interoperability roadmap using a methodical approach. This roadmap methodology is to be applied to technology integration ecosystems (e.g., electric vehicles, photovoltaic inverters, or automated buildings), using tools that measure the state of interoperability today, to identify the gaps and challenges that can be overcome to improve interoperability, and thereby, simplify the integration process.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗