Volume 11, Number 3 • Fall 2003 • Moving Forward

Technology Opportunity Showcase highlights some unique technologies that NASA has developed and which we believe have strong potential for commercial application. While the descriptions provided here are brief, they should provide enough information to communicate the potential applications of the technology. For more detailed information, contact the person listed. Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.

Lithium Polymer Batteries

NASA seeks to license the technology entitled Lithium Polymer Batteries, a rod-coil polymer that combines high ionic conductivity with dimensional stability.

Developed at NASA Glenn Research Center, Lithium Polymer Batteries offer cost and performance advantages over other types of batteries. Today’s solid polymer batteries can only operate at elevated temperatures because the solid polymer electrolytes have unacceptable ionic conductivities below 60 degrees Celsius. Below this temperature, higher conductivity can be achieved by adding solvent to the polymer electrolyte, but the solvent compromises the electrolyte’s dimensional and thermal stability. The resulting gel system requires elaborate packaging, and flammability is a concern.

Scientists at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed an electrolyte material that solves these problems. This new material comprises a series of rod-coil block copolymers in which rigid polyimide rods alternate with very flexible coils of polyethylene oxide (PEO). Because the rods and coils are incompatible, the blocks tend to phase separate. The result is a polymer with nanoscale channels of ionically conducting PEO alternating with concentrations of the rigid rods. The rod regions form the mechanical support for the conducting PEO coils, resulting in a material with both good conductivity and mechanical integrity.

This technology will enable solid polymer lithium batteries to operate at room temperature conditions. Solid polymer lithium batteries offer many advantages over other battery designs, including low cost, lightweight, high specific energy, improved safety and flexible design. Commercial applications could include an electrolyte for solid polymer lithium batteries and proton exchange membranes for fuel cells. *

For more information, contact Laurel Stauber, NASA Glenn Research Center, 216/433-2820, Laurel.J.Stauber@nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.