LLNL researchers has developed an approach to mitigate HER on the ‘plating’ electrode, which uses a sub-device as a rebalancing cell to restore electrolyte properties, including pH, conductivity, and capacity across the main device of the flow battery.  This sub-device, which may need to be powered externally, has three major physical components: (1) a cathode electrode, (2) an anode electrode…

Improving the active material of the Zn anode is critical to improving the practicality of Zn-MnO2 battery technology. LLNL researchers have developed a new category of 3D structured Zn anode using a direct-ink writing (DIW) printing process to create innovative hierarchical architectures.  The DIW ink, which is a gel-based mixture composed of zinc metal powder and organic binders, is extruded…

The approach developed by LLNL researchers is to use computer-aided design and advanced manufacturing methods to fabricate two or more continuous electrode structures intertwining in 3D space.  This configuration provides improved control electric field uniformity and the ability to carry out multiple electrochemical reactions.  This invention utilizes design tools to create architected…

CMI—a DOE Energy Innovation Hub—is a public/private partnership led by the Ames Laboratory that brings together the best and brightest research minds from universities, national laboratories (including LLNL), and the private sector to find innovative technology solutions to make better use of materials critical to the success of clean energy technologies as well as develop resilient and secure…

To address many of the aforementioned challenges of manufacturing LIBs and SSBs, LLNL researchers have developed a number of inventions that offer proposed solutions for their components:

LLNL researchers have developed a new 3D printable lithium-air battery that uses a novel thin solid state ceramic electrolyte.   LLNL’s invention overcomes the combined challenges of low power density and low cycle life in previously designed lithium-air batteries by using solid state electrolytes to achieve stability and multiscale structuring of the electrolyte to achieve low interfacial…

This technology can replace combustion heat with renewable energy in the form of electricity from variable renewable energy (VRE), such as photovoltaic (PV) solar and clean hydrogen (H2). Granular media functions as a heat-storage medium that enables renewable energy to be time-shifted from when it is available to when it is needed by an industrial process. The heated granular media, as the…

This technology is specifically focused on optimizing the production of heat with renewable energy and cleaner ways of using fossil fuels. The technology can be used to generate carbon neutral or carbon-negative heat for the following industrial applications (1) clean hydrogen (H2) production by steam methane reforming (SMR) and water-gas shift and (2) fractional distillation of crude oil. The…

Earth Battery Energy Storage replaces air-combustion with oxy-combustion, which produces just CO₂ and steam, which are easy to separate, thus virtually eliminating more expensive CO₂/N₂ separation costs. Oxygen from air is produced when the cost of electricity is low. Similarly, all the combustion is done when the cost of electricity is low, and the CO_2…

The design calculations that have been performed in exploring the potentialities of LLNL's new approaches to flywheel energy storage have been built on existing and past LLNL flywheel programs, including a program aimed at flywheel systems for the bulk storage of electricity at utility scale. To achieve the requirements of such systems, as mentioned above, LLNL has developed some key new…