Research Projects

The existing liquid electrolyte battery design and the emerging high-density solid-electrolyte battery typically encase the rolled/wrapped layers rigidly in a cell and pack an array of cells sandwiched in a box-like structure. It leads to issues in interfacial contact stresses under different forces. It is likely to limit fundamental improvement in battery performance in terms of energy density to weight, heat transfer, charge-discharge stress, interface issues, diagnostics and prognostics at the cell level. Similar problems exist in solar panels for interconnect stress, brittle glass structure, and thermal loss, which limits their energy density to weight, stiffness to weight, and strength to weight for robust structural integration. The project will develop advanced composite structures integrating (a) solid electrolyte rechargeable battery (liquid electrolyte as an alternate or reference), and (b) photovoltaic cells, in different configurations, for high-density energy generation/storage. Fundamentally different bottom-up design thinking will be developed to explore new possibilities, including all the existing as well as emerging design objectives in the above two types of structural integration problems. We will choose suitable types of Li-ion based battery electrolytes and Si photovoltaic cell materials and develop the composite. Key novelties are the following: (1) Multifunctionally compliant battery composite for high-performance light-weight structure, reduced stress and heating, enhanced energy density to weight, and durability; (2) Photovoltaic cell integrated on the composite surface for high-performance light-weight structure; additional features to integrate battery composite for high-density energy generation plus storage, by minimizing electrical DC loss and extended endurance of regulated solar power supply; (3) Active cooling channels in stiffened composite architecture for efficient cooling of battery and photovoltaic cell structures, thereby enhancing energy density and fatigue life together; (4) Distributed sensing and enhanced safety using smart material fibers/films. Besides composite material choices, we will explore topological design using stress, heat transfer and electrical pathways, deriving new ideas from nature-inspired optimization in photosynthesizing and ionic/heat-transporting organisms. So, this will be an entirely different approach where the through-thickness stress and bending properties will be decoupled from in-plane stresses, and similarly for interfacial contact and thermal transport. The details will be optimized using material multiphysics modeling and validated experimentally. We will develop efficient manufacturing processes for the above designs. We will employ a combination of laminated and 3D printed composite hollow-core segmented structures considering different aspects of assembly, repair, recycling, and process scale-up.