Dr. Vilas Pol, Associate Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, is a Co-Principal Investigator of a joint research effort funded by the National Science Foundation to develop advanced Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) battery technology.

The project is part of a previously funded Office of Naval Research Defense University Research-to-Adoption (ONR-DURA) program led by Dr. Pol with collaborators Dr. Vikas Tomar from Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Dr. Partha Mukherjee from Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Thomas Adams from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane; and Dr. James Fleetwood, Battery Innovation Center, IN.

Dr. Pol and his ViPER research group are partnering with Valgotech LLC of Fishers, Indiana, which is led by Dr. David Olawale, President. Dr. Thomas Anthony is Principal Investigator for the project, Multifunctional Trilayer Membrane for a Stable, Scalable and Economical High Energy Capacity Li-S Battery with Long Cycle Life. The research is part of the NSF Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which focuses on transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial potential and/or societal benefit. Unlike fundamental research, the NSF STTR program supports startups and small businesses in the creation of deep technologies, getting discoveries out of the lab and into the market.

“NSF-STTR funds will yield advanced energy dense Li-S batteries to higher technology readiness level, creating wide licensing opportunities,” said Dr. Pol.  

ViPER group developed Purdue University Battery Systems (PUBS), with an innovative tailored separator that minimizes Li-dendrite growth in Li-metal battery as a part of the ONR-DURA project. Purdue Research Foundation’s Dr. DHR Sarma filed a U.S. patent on advanced separator technology and Dr. William Buchanan provided the licensing option to Valgotech, LLC.

Li-Metal Pouch cell, picture by Dr. Manikandan Palanisamy, a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Vilas Pol’s group.

Learn more about PUBS research in two recent publications by the research group, Lithium Metal Battery Pouch Cell Assembly and Prototype Demonstration Using Tailored Polypropylene Separator, and  High Performance Lithium Metal Batteries Enabled by Surface Tailoring of Polypropylene Separator with a Polydopamine/Graphene Layer.

Dr. Vilas Pol joined as an Associate Professor at Purdue University’s School of Chemical Engineering, USA in 2014, and leads the Vilas Pol Energy Research Group (ViPER). His group’s research efforts focus in the advanced energy storage (Lithium-ion, Sodium-ion, Potassium-ion, Lithium-sulfur and Solid-state batteries) with their thermal safety aspects.

Learn more about Dr. Vilas Pol at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/people/ptProfile?resource_id=105208.

Learn more about the National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Technology Transfer Program at: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505362

Read the National Science Foundation award details at: bit.ly/Pol-NSF-Valgotech