Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Vilas Pol will continue development of his novel research in sustainable, low-cost sodium-ion batteries with funding from the Trask Innovation Fund. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood).

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Vilas Pol has been awarded $50,000 from the Trask Innovation Fund for continued development of his novel research in sustainable, low cost sodium-ion batteries.

As part of the Office of Technology Commercialization, the Trask Innovation Fund assists faculty by supporting research projects that will enhance commercial value of Purdue University intellectual property assets.

Dr. Pol is leading a research team in the discovery of Sodium Powder Technology for Sustainable, Low Cost Sodium-ion Batteries. “Currently, there is no commercial sodium powder available in the market, which is directly suitable for enhanced electrochemical performance of sodium ion batteries, or SIBs,” explains Dr. Pol.

Because of the larger surface area of carbonaceous anode electrodes, more sodium is needed during the first charging (sodiation) of the SIBs due to the unavoidable solid electrolyte interface (SEI) formation. Dr. Pol’s research will mitigate this issue through the development of innovative technology that supplies an additional sodium quantity.

“We are adding synthesized sodium powder in an anode or cathode electrodes of SIBs,” Dr. Pol says. “This innovation allows us to achieve improved first cycle Coulombic efficiency, reversible capacity, cell energy density, and energy efficiency.”

Graduate student Jialiang Tang characterizes surface area of the material in ViPER (Vilas Pol Energy Research) laboratory. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood).

Battery researchers worldwide have been developing sodium-ion batteries as an alternative rechargeable technology to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) during the last decade for solar and wind storage applications. SIBs are a more sustainable and less expensive alternative to LIBs because of the natural abundance and low principal costs of sodium.

Dr. Pol says, “Our initial sodium powder development and its applications in SIBs validate the implementation of these new form of hard carbons.” He anticipates that the successful demonstration of sodium powder on a commercial scale, followed by applications in mass sodium-ion batteries, will lead to further enterprising research initiatives.

Prof. Pol’s research team received Trask Innovation funds in 2017 for sodium ion battery anodes, in 2018 for novel ternary solid lubricant and in 2019 for sodium powder technology.

Learn more about Dr. Vilas Pol at https://engineering.purdue.edu/ViPER/pol.html

Read the Purdue News press release announcing 2019 Trask Innovation recipients at https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q1/three-purdue-university-researchers-advance-innovations-through-100,000-plus-in-funding.html

Source: Dr. Vilas Pol, vpol@purdue.edu, (765) 494-0044