Argonne’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program drives innovation by supporting the development of transformative ideas that have the potential to lead to new, sponsor-funded research and development programs.
This call offers researchers the opportunity to seek FY19 funding under the LDRD Swift program. The Swift component of the LDRD portfolio is intended to provide timely response to opportunities as they arise. Argonne’s LDRD website describes the scope and provides submission instructions for proposals.
This particular LDRD Swift call seeks proposals in the topic area of solid-state batteries and will be coordinated by Argonne’s Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS). All proposals will be reviewed by a committee designated by ACCESS.
The due date is May 13, 2019. Proposals should not exceed four pages and include a maximum budget of $50,000. Projects will run from June 1 to Sept. 30.
Many problems still need to be solved before solid-stage batteries can be commercialized, especially related to approaches that can scale to larger separator areas. Proposals are encouraged on many aspects of the problem, from material solutions, to different processes approaches, to innovative cell-level solutions.
Proposals should focus on innovative new approaches that go beyond what has been established in the literature. Argonne has a large program that uses advanced characterization and modeling tools to understand the problem in solid-state batteries; therefore, proposals in these topics are not of interest. Rather, this call targets ideas related, but not limited, to the following topics:
- New material concepts that possess the right material properties to prevent dendrites but can scale to larger cells
- Approaches to eliminate reactivity and inhomogeneity of solid conductors against lithium metal using, for example, buffer layers that can scale to large batteries
- Enabling inexpensive manufacturing approaches to produce thin lithium metal foils
- Approaches for fabricating large-area dense separators using brittle materials
- Processes to enable low-cost manufacturing of solid-solid bilayer structures consisting of cathodes and solid-ion conductors with low porosity and high interfacial coherence
For more details, ACCESS will hold an information session on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Building 200, Room C182 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. for all Argonne research and development staff who are interested in submitting proposals. Add to Your Calendar