Iowa State University (ISU)

Iowa State University (ISU) will develop new lithium-ion-conducting glassy solid electrolytes to address the shortcomings of present-day lithium batteries. The electrolytes will have high ionic conductivities and excellent mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical properties. Because glasses lack grain boundaries, they will also be impermeable to lithium dendrites, branchlike metal fibers that can short-circuit battery cells. These glassy solid electrolytes can enhance the safety, performance, manufacturability, and cost of lithium batteries. In addition to the electrolyte development, the team will build a micro-sheet glass ribbon processing facility and optimize conditions to identify a composition that will enable low-cost fabrication. Roll-to-roll manufacturing of the long, ribbon micro-sheets could be used to mass-produce enormous volumes of lithium batteries at very low cost and in flexible, stacked-layer formats.

If successful, developments made under the IONICS program will increase the energy storage content for vehicle batteries by about 30% compared to today's Li-ion batteries and significantly reduce battery storage system costs.