Ut-Battelle, Inc.

The University of Tennessee Research Foundation

The Ex One Company

Tomonori Saito

Pengfei Cao

Amit Kumar Naskar

Jagjit Nanda

Diana Hun

Kaushik Biswas

Michelle Lehmann

Md Anisur Rahman

Natasha B Ghezawi

Amy M Elliott

Dustin Blake Gilmer

Marcus Andrew Hunt

Sheng Dai

Amelia M Elliott

Huayun Yu

David L Wood, Iii

Jimmy Wayne Mays

Michael Naguib Abdelmalak

Frederick S Baker

Shannon Mark Mahurin

Daniel T Brunermer

Claude Clifford Eberle

Suree S Brown

Xi Chen

Jonathan Richard Mielenz

Sabornie Chatterjee

Brian Keith Long

De-en Jiang

Lu Han

Alexei P Sokolov

Kelsey M Grady

Tao Hong

Zhengping Zhou

Sungjin Kim

Yiman Zhang

Xiao Zhao

Zoriana Demchuk

Jiancheng Luo

Robert E Norris

Zhen Zhang

Bingrui Li

Joseph M Pickel

An improved gel composite electrolyte membrane and a method of its manufacture are provided. The method includes mixing polymer precursors, a lithium salt, and a ceramic filler in a vessel to form a mixture. The mixture is cast on a preheated substrate and cured to form a crosslinked composite electrolyte membrane. The composite electrolyte membrane is plasticized by immersing the composite electrolyte in a plasticizer to obtain a gel composite electrolyte membrane. The addition of a plasticizer and a ceramic filler synergistically and simultaneously act to improve the Litransference number and Liconductivity of the resulting composite electrolyte, exhibiting high ionic conductivity and mechanical stability as well improved cycling performance. The gel composite electrolyte membrane is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, lithium metal batteries.

Gel composite electrolyte membrane for lithium metal batteries

A crosslinked polymeric composition comprising a base polymer containing unconjugated carbon-carbon double bonds of the formula —CR═CR—, wherein a portion of said unconjugated carbon-carbon double bonds in said base polymer are interconnected by a crosslinker (L) as shown in the following structure: wherein: Rand Rare independently selected from hydrogen atom and hydrocarbon groups, wherein Rand Rmay optionally interconnect to form a ring; x represents the molar percentage of segments that are linked with the linker L throughout the crosslinked polymeric composition; L is a crosslinker having the formula: —S—R-L-R-L-R—S—; Rand Rare independently selected from hydrocarbon linking groups containing at least one carbon atom; Land Lindependently represent dynamic reversible crosslinking groups; and Zand Zindependently represent remaining portions of the base polymer.

Crosslinked polymeric composition and its use in additive manufacturing

A solid electrolyte composition comprising the following components: (i) an organic polymer comprising a polymeric backbone and pendant groups, wherein at least a portion of the pendant groups contain an anionic group associated with a first metal ion; (ii) a solvent homogeneously incorporated in the polymer to result in a polymer gel system; and (iii) a metal salt dissolved in the solvent in a molar concentration of 0.05 M to 1.5 M and containing a second metal ion associated with an anion, provided that the first and second metal ions are the same. Also described herein are solid-state batteries comprising: a) an anode; (b) a cathode; and (c) the solid electrolyte composition described above.

High ionic conductivity polymer electrolyte compositions for alkali and beyond alkali metal batteries

A joint sealing system for prefabricated building components is provided. The joint sealing system includes a first component including a first surface, and a second component including a second surface that is mateable with the first surface. The first and second surfaces define a joint. A sealant composition is disposed on one of the first surface or the second surface. Pressure exerted when the second surface is mated with the first surface triggers curing of the sealant composition to join the first and second components and to seal the joint between the first and second components. A method of joining and sealing two prefabricated building components is also provided.

Preinstalled sealant for prefab components

A self-healing adhesive composition comprising a homogeneous mixture of: (i) a self-healing polymer containing hydrogen bonding groups or long-chain alkyl groups, wherein said hydrogen bonding groups comprise hydrogen bond donating groups and hydrogen bond accepting groups, and wherein said long-chain alkyl groups contain at least four carbon atoms; and (ii) an extrudable adhesive polymer base having a curable property and no self-healable property; wherein component (i) is present in the self-healing adhesive composition in an amount of at least 10 wt % and up to 70 wt % of the total of components (i) and (ii). Also described herein is a method of sealing a space (e.g., crack, gap, or pores) in a substrate material by at least partially filling the space with the self-healing adhesive composition described above and permitting the self-healing adhesive composition to harden over time without applying an external stimulus to induce hardening.

Self-healing adhesive composition

A crosslinked polymeric composition comprising A, B, C, D, and E units having the following structures, respectively: and wherein dashed bonds represent optional bonds; the asterisks (*) in C units represent covalent bond connection points with asterisks in A units and E units; the asterisks (*) in D units represent covalent bond connection points with asterisks in B units and E units; wherein a portion of E units are bound to C units, a portion of E units are bound to D units, and a portion of E units are bound to both C and D units; and the composition contains a multiplicity of A, B, C, D, and E units. Also described is a method for producing the crosslinked polymeric composition by reacting epoxy-containing molecules (A molecules), isocyanate-containing molecules (B molecules), and disulfide-containing molecules (C molecules).

Recyclable crosslinked polymeric compositions

A method for indirect additive manufacturing of an object, the method comprising: (i) separately feeding a powder from which said object is to be manufactured and either a difunctional curable monomer according to Formula (I) or an adhesive polymer binder into an additive manufacturing device; (ii) dispensing selectively positioned droplets of said difunctional curable monomer or adhesive polymer binder, from a printhead of said additive manufacturing device, into a bed of said powder to bind particles of said powder with said difunctional curable monomer or adhesive polymer binder to produce a curable preform having a shape of the object to be manufactured; and, in the case of the difunctional curable monomer, (iii) curing said curable preform to form a crosslinked object.

Indirect additive manufacturing process

A washout tooling for a composite layup is provided. The washout tooling comprises a casting mold having an exterior surface. The casting mold comprises a particulate material and a water-soluble binder. The casting mold is adapted to break down in the presence of an aqueous solution. The washout tooling further comprises a water-soluble coating layer overlying the exterior surface. The water-soluble coating layer is adapted to break down in the presence of an aqueous solution. The washout tooling further comprises a curable composite layer overlying the water-soluble coating layer. The water-soluble coating layer minimizes contact between the particulate material and the curable composite layer.

Water soluble barrier coatings for washout tooling for a composite layup

An improved method for manufacturing a continuous self-healing barrier film is provided. The method includes slot-die coating opposing sides of a separator substrate with a curing agent slurry and a curable resin slurry using a single-sided coating line or a tandem coating line. The method also includes sequentially interleaving inner and outer protective layers via a continuous roll-to-roll process to create a multi-layered barrier film. The barrier film can optionally be formed into a barrier envelope, and an insulating core material can be inserted into the barrier envelope to define an enclosure. Evacuating and sealing the enclosure along a perimeter of the barrier envelop forms a self-healing vacuum insulation panel with excellent properties for use as a building material and in refrigeration systems, for example. The barrier film can alternatively be used in the manufacture of tires, roofing, cargo containers, food packaging, and pharmaceutical packaging, for example.

Roll-to-roll slot die coating method to create interleaving multi-layered films with chemical slurry coatings

A self-healing vacuum insulation panel and a method of manufacture are provided. The vacuum insulation panel includes a self-healing, multi-layer barrier film including a separator between a curing agent and a curable resin. Upon damage to the separator, the curing agent penetrates the separator due to a pressure differential across the barrier film and reacts with the curable resin to seal any cuts or punctures. The curing agent and the curable resin can be selected to have long term stability and a short reaction time with no need for external stimuli. As a result, the multi-layer barrier film can retain the internal vacuum and maintain a desirably low thermal conductivity using low-cost, commercially available epoxies and curing agents.

Self-healing barrier films for vacuum insulation panels

A method for binder jetting additive manufacturing of an object, the method comprising: (i) separately feeding a powder from which said object is to be manufactured and a solution comprising an adhesive polymer dissolved in a solvent into an additive manufacturing device, wherein said adhesive polymer is an amine-containing polymer having a molecular weight of at least 200 g/mole and is present in said solution in a concentration of 1-30 wt % to result in said solution having a viscosity of 2-25 mPa&#xb7;s and a surface tension of 25-45 mN/m at room temperature; and (ii) dispensing selectively positioned droplets of said adhesive polymer, from a printhead of said additive manufacturing device, into a bed of said powder to bind particles of said powder with said adhesive polymer to produce a preform having a shape of the object to be manufactured.

Indirect additive manufacturing process using amine-containing adhesive polymers

An elastic composition comprising the following structure: wherein: PDMS is polydimethylsiloxane having at least 5 dimethylsiloxane units; L is a bond or hydrocarbon linker; the asterisk (*) in A units denotes a connection point with an asterisk in B units, and at least one of the following linkages connect between connection points: r is an integer of at least 3; R is a hydrocarbon or siloxane-containing linking moiety; the composition includes a multiplicity of A units and multiplicity of B units; and a portion of the connection points are necessarily terminated by endcapping groups, wherein at least a portion of the endcapping groups are selected from the following structures: The invention also includes methods for making and using the above-described elastic composition.

Super-stretchable self-healing polymer

A graft copolymer composition comprising the following structure: wherein: Arepresents a polymer backbone having a number of polymerized monomer units x; [B] represents a multiplicity of a graft polymer side chain having a number of polymerized monomer units y, and at least a portion of the monomer units in Bcontains a group &#x2014;C(O)OM, with M independently selected from H and alkali metals; [C] represents a multiplicity of positions on the polymer backbone Awhere the graft polymer side chain B or any other graft polymer side chain is not attached; the subscript w represents a grafting density of the group B, wherein w is an integer within a range of 10-50%; and the subscript z represents a density of the group C, wherein z=(100&#x2212;w) %. The invention is also directed to lithium-ion batteries in which the above-described composition is incorporated in an anode of the battery.

Block graft copolymer binders and their use in silicon-containing anodes of lithium-ion batteries

A crosslinked polymer composition comprising: (i) a base polymer containing a multiplicity of at least one type of functional group selected from amino, amido, thiol, carboxylic acid, carboxylic acid ester, and epoxy groups; (ii) a multiplicity of hydroxylated benzene rings covalently linked to the base polymer, wherein each hydroxylated benzene ring contains at least two hydroxy groups, and with at least two of the hydroxy groups on said hydroxylated benzene rings being free as OH groups; and (iii) a multiplicity of crosslinking groups that crosslink at least two of said functional groups in the base polymer. The invention is also directed to lithium-ion batteries in which the above-described composition is incorporated in an electrode of the battery, and also directed to methods of operating a lithium-ion battery in which the above-described crosslinked polymer composition is incorporated in an electrode thereof.

Crosslinked functional binders and their use in silicon-containing anodes of lithium-ion batteries

A fiber useful in the absorption of metal ions from aqueous solutions, the fiber comprising a polyolefin backbone having a diameter of at least 1 micron and having covalently appended on its surface halogen atoms and vinyl-addition polymeric grafts functionalized with metal-binding groups, such as at least one functional group selected from carboxylate, keto, aldo, amino, imino, nitrile, amido, oxime, amidoxime, imide dioxime, and hydroxamate groups. The vinyl-addition polymeric grafts may also be further functionalized with hydrophilic groups different from the metal-binding groups, wherein the hydrophilic groups may be selected from carboxylate, sulfone, sulfonate, phosphonate, alkylammonium, iminium, amide, pyrrolidone, and polyalkyleneglycol groups. Also described are methods for producing the functionalized fibers, and methods for using the functionalized fiber, particularly in extracting metal ions from metal-containing solutions.

Surface-functionalized polyolefin fibers and their use in methods for extracting metal ions from liquid solutions

Growing community of inventors

Knoxville, TN, United States of America

Tomonori Saito