The increasing interest in energy storage for the grid can be attributed to multiple factors, including the capital costs of managing peak demands, the investments needed for grid reliability, and the integration of renewable energy sources. Although existing energy storage is dominated by pumped hydroelectric, there is the recognition that battery systems can offer a number of high-value opportunities, provided that lower costs can be obtained. The battery systems reviewed here include sodium-sulfur batteries that are commercially available for grid applications, redox-flow batteries that offer low cost, and lithium-ion batteries whose development for commercial electronics and electric vehicles is being applied to grid storage.

Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices

Owing to almost unmatched volumetric energy density, Li-ion batteries have dominated the portable electronics industry and solid state electrochemical literature for the past 20 years. Not only will that continue, but they are also now powering plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles. In light of possible concerns over rising lithium costs in the future, Na and Na-ion batteries have re-emerged as candidates for medium and large-scale stationary energy storage, especially as a result of heightened interest in renewable energy sources that provide intermittent power which needs to be load-levelled. The sodium-ion battery field presents many solid state materials design challenges, and rising to that call in the past couple of years, several reports of new sodium-ion technologies and electrode materials have surfaced. These range from high-temperature air electrodes to new layered oxides, polyanion-based materials, carbons and other insertion materials for sodium-ion batteries, many of which hold promise for future sodium-based energy storage applications. In this article, the challenges of current high-temperature sodium technologies including Na-S and Na-NiCl2 and new molten sodium technology, Na-O2 are summarized. Recent advancements in positive and negative electrode materials suitable for Na-ion and hybrid Na/Li-ion cells are reviewed, along with the prospects for future developments.

Sodium and sodium-ion energy storage batteries

Systems including an implantable receiver-stimulator and an implantable controller-transmitter are used for leadless electrical stimulation of body tissues. Cardiac pacing and arrhythmia control is accomplished with one or more implantable receiver-stimulators and an external or implantable controller-transmitter. Systems are implanted by testing external or implantable devices at different tissue sites, observing physiologic and device responses, and selecting sites with preferred performance for implanting the systems. In these systems, a controller-transmitter is activated at a remote tissue location to transmit/deliver acoustic energy through the body to a receiver-stimulator at a target tissue location. The receiver-stimulator converts the acoustic energy to electrical energy for electrical stimulation of the body tissue. The tissue locations(s) can be optimized by moving either or both of the controller-transmitter and the receiver-stimulator to determine the best patient and device responses.

Leadless tissue stimulation systems and methods

Fabrication of monolithic lattice-mismatched semiconductor heterostructures with limited area regions having upper portions substantially exhausted of threading dislocations, as well as fabrication of semiconductor devices based on such lattice-mismatched heterostructures.

Lattice-Mismatched Semiconductor Structures with Reduced Dislocation Defect Densities and Related Methods for Device Fabrication

A light emitting device, such as a light emitting diode or a laser diode. The light emitting device comprises a light emitting semiconductor active region disposed on a substrate. The substrate comprises an optical absorption coefficient below about 100 cm−1 at wavelengths between 700 and 465 nm a GaN single crystal having a dislocation density of less than 104 per cm2 and an optical absorption coefficient below about 100 cm−1 at wavelengths between 700 and 465 nm. A method of making such a light emitting device is also provided.

Homoepitaxial gallium-nitride-based light emitting device and method for producing

Bulk GaN crystal growth by the high-pressure ammonothermal method

A GaN crystal having up to about 5 mole percent of at least one of aluminum, indium, and combinations thereof. The GaN crystal has at least one grain having a diameter greater than 2 mm, a dislocation density less than about 104 cm−2, and is substantially free of tilt boundaries.

Gallium nitride crystals and wafers and method of making

A method may produce a resonant cavity light emitting device. A seed gallium nitride crystal and a source material in a nitrogen-containing superheated fluid may provide a medium for mass transport of gallium nitride precursors therebetween. A seed crystal surface may be prepared by applying a first thermal profile between the seed gallium nitride crystal and the source material. Gallium nitride material may be grown on the prepared surface of the seed gallium nitride crystal by applying a second thermal profile between the seed gallium nitride crystal and the source material while the seed gallium nitride crystal and the source material are in the nitrogen-containing superheated fluid. A stack of group III-nitride layers may be deposited on the single-crystal gallium nitride substrate. The stack may include a first mirror sub-stack and an active region adaptable for fabrication into one or more resonant cavity light emitting devices.

Resonant cavity light emitting devices and associated method

A method for growing a nitride crystal and a crystalline composition selected from one of A1N, InGaN, A1GaInN, InGaN, and A1GaNInN is provided. The composition comprises a true single crystal, grown from a single nucleus, at least 1 mm in diameter, free of lateral strain and tilt boundaries, with a dislocation density less than about 104 cm-2.

Method for forming nitride crystals

In a method for producing a resonant cavity light emitting device, a seed gallium nitride crystal (14) and a source material (30) are arranged in a nitrogen-containing superheated fluid (44) disposed in a sealed container (10) disposed in a multiple-zone furnace (50). Gallium nitride material is grown on the seed gallium nitride crystal (14) to produce a single-crystal gallium nitride substrate (106, 106'). Said growing includes applying a temporally varying thermal gradient (100, 100', 102, 102') between the seed gallium nitride crystal (14) and the source material (30) to produce an increasing growth rate during at least a portion of the growing. A stack of group III-nitride layers (112) is deposited on the single-crystal gallium nitride substrate (106, 106'), including a first mirror sub-stack (116) and an active region (120) adapted for fabrication into one or more resonant cavity light emitting devices (108, 150, 160, 170, 180).

Dong-Sil Park

Papers

Bulk GaN crystal growth by the high-pressure ammonothermal method

Gallium nitride crystals and wafers and method of making

Resonant cavity light emitting devices and associated method

Method for forming nitride crystals

Group iii-nitride based resonant cavity light emitting devices fabricated on single crystal gallium nitride substrates