Science Daily October 12, 2022 Using massive batteries to alleviate range anxiety is ineffective for mainstream EV adoption due to the limited raw resource supply and high cost. Fast charging enables downsizing of EV batteries for both affordability and sustainability, without causing range anxiety. However, fast charging of energy-dense batteries remains a challenge. A team of researchers in the US (Pennsylvania State College, State College (PA)) combined materials based on asymmetric temperature modulation with a thermally stable dual-salt electrolyte to achieve charging of a 265 Wh kg−1 battery to 75% (or 70%) state of charge in 12 (or 11) minutes for more […]
Category Archives: Battery technology
The battery that runs 630 km on a single charge
Science Daily October 6, 2022 Anode-free Li metal batteries can increase energy density beyond that of standard lithium-ion batteries. The absence of Li reservoir generates unwarranted volume expansion, permitting electrolyte depletion and rapid cathode capacity consumption. To address this issue researchers in South Korea developed an anode-free Li metal battery with an ion-conductive layer coated with Cu current collector Ag/L in typical carbonate-based electrolytes. The ion-conducting layer causes stable solid electrolyte interphase development and allows for minimal volume expansion when utilizing stable Li hosts. Via density functional theory calculation and experimental measurements and analysis, they demonstrated the beneficial effect of […]
Flexible solid electrolytes for all-solid-state lithium batteries
Phys.org October 3, 2022 The thick electrolyte layer and rigid nature as well as poor interfacial contact of doped garnet-type solid electrolytes are obstacles for its application in all-solid-state lithium batteries. Through solvent-free procedure researchers in China developed an ultrathin flexible Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12- (LLZTO-) based solid electrolyte with 90 wt% LLZTO. The resulting film exhibited ultrahigh ionic conductance of 41.21 mS at 30°C, excellent oxidation stability of 4.6 V, superior thermal stability and nonflammability. The assembled Li||LiFePO4 pouch cell with integrated electrolyte/cathode interface exhibited excellent rate performances and cycle performances with a capacity retention of 71.4% from 153 mAh g-1 to 109.2 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C […]
Researchers fabricate miniaturized bionic ocean-battery
Phys.org September 30, 2022 Researchers in China fabricated a bio-solar cell consisting of a four-species microbial community by mimicking the ecological structure of marine microbial ecosystems. The four-species microbial community was assembled into a spatial-temporally compacted cell using conductive hydrogel as a sediment-like anaerobic matrix, forming a miniaturized bionic ocean-battery. The battery directly converts light into electricity with a maximum power of 380 μW. It stably operated for over one month. They demonstrated such ecological structure consisting of primary producer, primary degrader, and ultimate consumers is essential for achieving high power density and stability. According to the researchers the photoelectric conversion […]
Researchers unveil mystery inside lithium oxygen batteries
Phys.org September 30, 2022 Researchers in China prepared an integrated air electrode with highly ordered channels. They observed morphological composition and distribution of Li2O2 inside the real air electrode. The results showed that the toroidal Li2O2 was constrained by the channel size and exhibited a larger diameter on the separator side at high currents. The coupling effects of charge transfer impedance and concentration polarization on sudden death were analyzed in-depth at low and high currents. The growth model suggested that toroidal Li2O2 exhibited a high dependence on the electrode surface structure. They proposed a new route where the Li2O2/electrode interface […]
New stable quantum batteries can reliably store energy into electromagnetic fields
Phys.org August 24, 2022 An international team of researchers (Italy, South Korea) revisited micromaser, a quantum mechanical system, that has been studied heavily in the past. They showed that micromasers have features that allow them to serve as excellent models of quantum batteries. However, one of the main concerns was that using electromagnetic field to store energy is that in principle, the electromagnetic field could absorb an enormous amount of energy. But their numerical results showed that this cannot happen in micromasers, the electromagnetic field reaches a steady state, and its energy can be determined and decided a priori when […]
New faster charging hydrogen fuel cell developed
Science Daily August 12, 2022 Metal hydrides (MH) have large hydrogen storage capacity, low operating pressure, and high safety. However, their slow hydrogen absorption kinetics significantly decreases storage performance. Researchers in Australia designed and optimized a semi-cylindrical coil for hydrogen storage and embedded it as an internal heat exchanger with air as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). They analyzed and compared it with normal helical coil geometry, based on various pitch sizes, investigated the operating parameters of MH storage and HTF to obtain optimal values. Results from this study demonstrated that MH storage performance is significantly improved by using a […]
Microbatteries much smaller than a grain of rice for a smart dust future
Nanowerk August 5, 2022 Researchers in Germany have developed an on-chip Swiss-roll current collector made via the micro-origami process and infused it with a MnO2 slurry comprising a zincophilic binder. The zincophilic binder layer enhances zinc ion transportability and suppresses MnO2 dissolution. The MnO2 Swiss-roll microelectrode is used to create an on-chip microbattery with a small electrode footprint area which shows a footprint capacity up to 3.3 mAh cm–2 and has a capacity of more than 1 mAh cm–2 for 150 cycles. According to the researchers the battery stability can be improved to over 600 cycles at a 50% depth […]
Affordable and sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries proposed
Science Daily August 2, 2022 Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute proposed using calcium ions as an alternative to lithium-ions in batteries because of inexpensive, abundant, safe, and sustainable battery chemistry that uses calcium ions in an aqueous, water-based electrolyte. They demonstrated the battery using orthorhombic and trigonal polymorphs of molybdenum vanadium oxide (MoVO) as a host for calcium ions. As calcium ion is divalent, one ion insertion will deliver two electrons per ion during battery operation allowing for a highly efficient battery with reduced mass and volume of calcium ions. However, the higher ionic charge and the larger size of […]
A paper battery with water switch
Nanowerk July 29, 2022 Researchers in Switzerland have developed a disposable paper battery aiming to reduce the environmental impact of single-use electronics for applications such as point of care diagnosis, smart packaging, and environmental sensing. The battery uses Zinc as a biodegradable metal anode, graphite as a nontoxic cathode material and paper as a biodegradable substrate. To facilitate additive manufacturing, they developed electrodes and current collector inks that can be stencil printed on paper to create water-activated batteries of arbitrary shape and size. The battery remains inactive until water is provided and absorbed by the paper substrate, taking advantage of […]