Development of High-Energy and Low-Cost Semi-Solid Sodium Batteries Operating at Extreme Cold Temperatures

The extreme environments of many NASA planetary missions are far more demanding than those on Earth or in near-Earth applications. A typical case is the extreme cold environments on most of the outer planets, which poses a huge kinetic challenge to the electrochemical reactions at such low temperatures, making it rather difficult for the batteries to deliver the stored energy. The proposed research aims to develop groundbreaking high-energy and low-cost semi-solid sodium primary and rechargeable batteries that will operate at extreme cold temperatures (below -40 degrees Celsius) and exhibit high specific energy, excellent rate capability, and many-year lifetimes. These batteries will employ liquid with low freezing point or gas as cathode materials, which can tackle and alleviate the problem of slow kinetics in conventional solid-state cathodes when working at ultra-low temperatures. Such batteries will serve as affordable and sustainable power sources to meet broad NASA planetary science mission requirements for a variety of destinations.

This research can lead to dramatic low temperature performance improvements, serve as new affordable and sustainable power sources for NASA’s future planetary science missions, and enable lower cost and longer duration missions without the need for ancillary thermal systems.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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