9724792 Buttry This U.S.-Brazil award will support a research collaboration between Dr. Daniel Buttry of the University of Wyoming to work with Professors Roberto M. Torresi and Susana Cordoba Torresi at the University of Sao Paulo. Their collaboration is on enhanced power density in polymeric, thin film battery materials. These two research labs want to work together to define materials and conditions that make the most of charging and discharging rates of lithium-based batteries. Specifically they are looking at the mechanism of the polyaniline (PAn) catalyzed oxidized 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMcT) redox process. This is a thin-film mixture that has been shown to have extremely high energy density under certain conditions that are relevant to use as a cathode material in a lithium battery. This research is important not only for industry, which has an increasing need for portable power sources, but also for the projected need for society's conversion to electric vehicles. The University of Wyoming lab specializes in electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance methodology, in spectroelectrochemical (EQCM) methods of analyzing thin films and in the complex chemistry of the Pan/DMcT system. The University of Sao Paulo lab possesses skill in the synthesis of new conducting polymer derivatives and in using the EQCM in conjunction with other measurement methods. The expertise brought by each side is unique and essential to the project. ***
