Posted on 04/18/2018 12:13:23 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Development could change future smartphone, laptop and car battery technologies
Scientists have found a way of using alternative metals in lithium-based batteries that might not only help relieve the issues associated with conflict materials, but also offer more storage capacity in future devices.
The research team, led by professors at the University of California, Berkeley, managed to build lithium cathodes with 50 per cent more storage capacity than conventional materials - potentially enabling batteries to be made that can last considerably longer between recharges than current battery technology.
This could change how we use technology in the future as these batteries are used in phones, laptops, tablets and even some cars.
It's also a potentially important step environmentally as lithium-based batteries currently use more than 50 per cent of all cobalt produced in the world, of which around half comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it's largely mined by hand - in some instances by children.
"We've opened up a new chemical space for battery technology," said the University's professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and senior author of the report, Gerbrand Ceder.
"For the first time we have a really cheap element that can do a lot of electron exchange in batteries."
The study has been published in the April edition of the journal Nature and is a collaboration between scientists at UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab, Argonne National Lab, MIT and UC Santa Cruz.
"To deal with the resource issue of cobalt, you have to do away from this layeredness in cathodes," Ceder added. "Disordering cathodes has allowed us to play with a lot more of the periodic table."
In the new study, Ceder's lab shows how new technologies can be used to get a lot of capacity from a cathode.
Using a process called 'fluorine doping', the scientists incorporated a large amount of manganese in the cathode. Having more manganese ions with the proper charge enables the cathodes to hold more lithium ions, thus increasing the battery's capacity.
"In the world of batteries, this is a huge improvement over conventional cathodes," said lead author Jinhyuk Lee, who was a postdoctoral fellow at Ceder's lab during the study.
The new lithium alternative technology needs to be scaled up and tested more to see if it can be used in applications like laptops or electric vehicles, however.
But Ceder says whether or not this technology actually makes it inside a battery is beside the point as the researchers have opened new possibilities for the design of cathodes, an even bigger feat, apparently.
Actually, Lithium Manganese batteries have been on the market for about 20 years.
They probably have come up with an improved construction technique, but the general chemistry is hardly new or earthshaking.
And yes, Manganese is very plentiful; Even in the US,( unlike cobalt). You ever driven through the desert and seen the rocks stained like they had black ink or paint poured over them? That is manganese dioxide. I know several idle mines that have millions of tons of it just waiting to be dug, in veins a few feet thick.
I see Manganese is FREE element. Free is good. Excellent!
Hardly free.
Pure MG will run $3,000/ton...
MN...not MG.
No kidding.
I’m going to have to stop sending my home water filter backwash sediment to the landfill.
Few people think about it
the more energy capacity batteries have the better bombs they make
A battery with 50% greater storage capacity is a 50% better bomb.
A car with such a. Battery in it would be at least as dangerous as a gasoline car. It can be considered a factory built car bomb.
All a terrorist would need to do is wire in a switch that short circuits the battery.
Published price is $1.65/lb or about $3,300 per short ton.
I would expect this to bounce once manganese becomes a more important commodity.
There is a massive deposit in northern Minnesota, discovered by drilling for iron ore in the late 1940s. Several hundred acres. Millions of tons. Very pure.
Manganese causes Global Warming, kills whales and is racist!!
That’s just for starters.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
When there’s a shortage, an excessive cost, an inefficient process it does not mean “tragedy” it means opportunity.
“Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.”
Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #9
Lithium, Florine, and they made such a fuss over lead.
Intercalated carbon electrodes.
“Scientists uncover new battery chemical with 50 percent more storage capacity”
let me guess ... Unobtainium?
That makes it cheaper than pure hamburger...so that’s pretty cheap
Refreshing it's not graphene - I was kinda being sarcastic... Thanks for clearing that up.
You forgot it will put all those child miners in Africa out of work . . . I.e. it’ll hurt the children.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.