EurekAlert August 3, 2020 Researchers in Australia have developed a technique to improve the performance of quasi‐solid‐state supercapacitors made by graphitized silicon carbide on silicon electrodes and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)+H2SO4 gel electrolyte. They increased the specific capacitance of the cell up to 3‐fold resulting from a simple agent‐free, in situ, electrochemical treatment leading to functionalization of the graphitic electrodes. The functionalization of the electrodes simultaneously enables redox reactions, without adding any redox agent, and increases the overall capacitance…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Tag Archives: Battery
Organic Mega Flow Battery transcends lifetime, voltage thresholds
Science Daily July 23, 2018 Researchers at Harvard University designed and built a new organic compound called Methuselah molecule that can store electrical energy and has a very long life before it decomposes. In experiments in their laboratories the molecule had a fade rate of less than 0.01 percent per day and less than 0.001 percent per charge/discharge cycle — which extrapolates to less than 3 percent degradation over the course of a year — and useful operation for tens of thousands of cycles. The molecule also proved highly soluble, meaning it can store more energy in a smaller space. […]
Researchers charge quest to end ‘voltage fade’
Nanowerk July 23, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – Cornell University, UC San Diego, Argonne National Laboratory, industry, China, Germany) identified nanoscale defects or “dislocations” in Lithium-rich NMC cathode materials as they charged batteries at a range of voltages going up to 4.4 volts. They demonstrated that heat treating the cathode materials eliminated most of the defects and restored the original voltage showing that voltage fade had been reversed. According to the researchers while heat treating is not scalable, the physics and materials science-based approach to characterizing and then addressing the nanoscale defects offers promise for finding new […]
Engineers invent smart microchip that can self-start and operate when battery runs out
Science Daily May 3, 2018 Researchers in Singapore have designed a microchip called BATLESS that switches to the minimum-power mode and operates with a tiny power consumption of about half a nanoWatt when the battery is exhausted. The power management technique enables operations to be self-started, while being powered directly by the tiny on-chip solar cell, with no battery assistance. The chip’s ability to switch between minimum energy and minimum power mode translates into aggressive miniaturisation of batteries from centimetres down to a few millimetres… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Ultra-powerful batteries made safer, more efficient
Science Daily April 9, 2018 Using mathematical modeling, an international team of researchers (China, USA – University of Delaware, Boston University, Utah State University) fabricated a membrane made of tiny wires of porous silicon nitride that measured less than one millionth of a meter each, to suppress the initiation and growth of dendrites. They integrated this membrane into lithium metal cells in a battery and ran it for 3,000 hours without growing dendrites. The principle may also extend to other battery systems, such as zinc or potassium-based batteries… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Compound could transform energy storage for large grids
Phys org February 5, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (University of Rochester, State University of New York – Buffalo) developed a method to modify polyoxometalates by replacing the compound’s methanol-derived methoxide groups with ethanol-based ethoxide ligands. They expanded the potential window during which the cluster was stable, doubling the amount of electrical energy that could be stored in the battery. The ethoxide and methoxide clusters can be generated by using methanol and ethanol. Both reagents are inexpensive, readily available and safe to use. According to the researchers the process may set a new standard in the field… […]
Scientists develop ultrafast battery with quarter-million cycle life
Phys.org January 8, 2018 Rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries are promising in high-power density but still face critical challenges of limited lifetime, rate capability, and cathodic capacity. Researchers in China have designed a “trihigh tricontinuous” (3H3C) graphene film cathode. It retains high specific capacity of around 120 mAh g−1 at ultrahigh current density of 400 A g−1 (charged in 1.1 s) with 91.7% retention after 250,000 cycles. The battery works well within a wide temperature range of −40 to 120°C with remarkable flexibility bearing 10,000 times of folding, promising for all-climate wearable energy devices. This design opens an avenue for future super-batteries… […]
Researchers design dendrite-free lithium battery
Phys.org January 8, 2018 In lithium batteries the anode requires a rigid electrolyte to block dendrite growth, but it is difficult for a rigid electrolyte to maintain sufficient contact with the solid cathode, which creates a highly resistive cathode/electrolyte interface. To address this problem, the researchers in China designed an asymmetrical solid electrolyte, in which the side facing the anode is a rigid ceramic material that presses against the lithium anode to discourage dendrite growth, the side facing the cathode is made of a soft polymer, which allows for a strong interfacial connection with the cathode. In tests, the new […]
Researchers make solid ground toward better lithium-ion battery interfaces
Source: Science Daily, December 12, 2017 There are two important interfaces in solid state batteries, at the cathode-electrolyte junction and electrolyte-anode junction. Either could be dictating the performance limits of a full battery. The interfaces that we are only a few atomic layers thick. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratory engineered the interface down to the nanometer or even subnanometer level to study and improve the interfaces between different materials. The underlying goal of the work is to make solid-state batteries more efficient and to improve the interfaces between different materials … read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE