Annual Report- Part III - Florida Energy Systems Consortium

Title: Development of a Low Cost Concentrating Solar Energy System Using Solar SausagesPIs: David VanWinkle, Sean Barton – UFDescription: Beginning in late 2010, weekly meetings have been held at HHH offices in Tallahassee thatinclude representatives of the several entities involved in deploying the “Solar Sausage” concentratingsystem at the Yulee St. site in Tallahassee. The entities include Pro Solar Inc., Barkley ConsultingEngineers Inc., Winton Engineering PA, and Applied Research and Design Inc. A series of 50-foot longprototype sausages were made and inflated on site. Many issues were identified that needed to be resolvedbefore manufacturing and deploying several hundred solar sausages on site including methods ofconstructing, mounting, and operating the balloons, distribution of air and electricity, and removal of heat.Industry Partner: Hunter and Harp Holdings (HHH)Title: Stress Evolution in Solid-State Li-Ion Battery MaterialsPI: Kevin S. Jones – UFDescription: Li-ion battery (LIB) technology is promising for use in electric drive vehicle (EDV) andstationary energy storage applications. However, challenges with materials safety, performance, cost, andmanufacturing scalability have largely prohibited LIB implementation in these situations. Challenges instress evolution during the fabrication and processing of the elements of the cells remain and are not wellunderstood. In this study the roles of component fabrication and processing conditions on the resultingstresses in the materials are being evaluated. Thin film battery components will be deposited on stainlesssubstrates using a novel fabrication method invented and patented by Planar Energy and the componentswill be subjected to different annealing treatments. A novel curvature measurement system will be used tocharacterize the stress in the component layers both after deposition and annealing and structural analysistechniques will be used to correlate the resultant component material microstructure and crystallographicphase(s) with the measured stresses.Industry Partner: Planar EnergyTitle: SWNT Based Air Cathodes for Fuel Cells & Metal Air BatteriesPI: Andrew G. Rinzler – UFDescription: The goal of this project is to develop and use novel gas diffusion oxygen reducingelectrode (air cathode) based on single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) films in zinc-air batteries and fuelcells. Metal-air batteries, utilizing surrounding air as an inexhaustible cathode material have the highestspecific and volumetric energy density of any primary battery system available. Gas diffusion oxygenelectrodes, where molecular oxygen is electrocatalytically reduced, are vital to battery and fuel cellperformance. The air cathode should be permeable to air or another source of oxygen, but must besubstantially hydrophobic so that electrolyte will not leak though it, and have an electrically conductiveelement connected to external circuitry. Generally, conventional air cathode is a thick multilayerfilm comprising carbonaceous powder mixed with nanoscale metal catalyst to promote oxygenreduction and hydrophobic polymer additive pressed onto electrically conductive layer. While noblemetals such as platinum that are commonly used as catalysts in conventional air cathodes offerthe advantages of intrinsic catalytic activity, their deficiency in resource, high costs, andsusceptibility to catalyst poisoning, have become a serious concern for commercialapplications. An optimized SWNT based air cathode catalyst that would constitute a significantimprovement in existing technologies is being developed. This new system avoids precious metals, is notpoisoned, is thin, light-weight, and resists electrolyte flooding.Industry Partner: nRadiance LL90