Safe energy and power dense generation and storage is crucial to providing operational endurance to warfighters, systems and platforms. The Office of Naval Research Electrochemical Materials Program is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of charge (electron and ion) storage, transport and transfer mechanisms, and applying that knowledge to inform the development of materials, materials architectures and devices that address Navy and Marine Corps application power and energy needs.
Many other agencies and the commercial sector have needs and investments in electrochemical power and energy. ONR seeks to leverage those investments to the greatest extent possible. Naval basic research in this area emphasizes the enabling science to accelerate materials, device and systems development with improved safety and performance. Approaches that are distinct from other agency investments and that address Navy-unique challenges are desired.
Research Concentration Areas
- Enhanced safety and capability batteries and fuel cells are required to improve reliability, efficiency, and resiliency in stand-alone and hybrid systems configurations
- ONR requires Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) methods that enable physics-based multi-scale modeling of coupled reaction mechanisms that span atomistic to cell and system design levels to accelerate the incorporation of new materials and new materials approaches into devices and systems
- ONR requires new experimental tools that enable in operando and in situ quantitative interrogation of complex electrochemical systems to provide new knowledge about reaction mechanisms and the effects of kinetics and structure
- ONR requires fundamental mechanistic understanding of lithium-ion battery catastrophic failure to move beyond current engineering approaches that do not adequately avoid or mitigate damage to platforms and personnel, particularly for large battery systems
Research Challenges and Opportunities
- Validated multi-scale modeling and simulation with outputs capable of facile integration with methods that address adjacent length and time scales to enable an ICME framework that spans atomistic to cell and system level safety and performance behavior in lithium-ion batteries
- Development and validation of new in operando and in situ probes for (1) understanding the origin and evolution of catastrophic failure in lithium-ion batteries or (2) for determining reaction mechanisms in high temperature electrochemical systems
- Innovative approaches that push the frontiers of current understanding of charge storage, transport and transfer
Updated: November 2020
How to Submit
For detailed application and submission information for this research topic, please refer to our broad agency announcement (BAA) No. N0001425SB001.
Contracts: All white papers and full proposals for contracts must be submitted through FedConnect; instructions are included in the BAA.
Grants: All white papers for grants must be submitted through FedConnect, and full proposals for grants must be submitted through grants.gov; instructions are included in the BAA.