Posted on 05/23/2016 10:51:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
A University of Texas at Dallas researcher has made a discovery that could open the door to cellphone and car batteries that last five times longer than current ones.
Dr. Kyeongjae Cho, professor of materials science and engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, has discovered new catalyst materials for lithium-air batteries that jumpstart efforts at expanding battery capacity. The research was published in Nature Energy.
"There's huge promise in lithium-air batteries. However, despite the aggressive research being done by groups all over the world, those promises are not being delivered in real life," Cho said. "So this is very exciting progress. (UT Dallas graduate student) Yongping Zheng and our collaboration team have demonstrated that this problem can be solved. Hopefully, this discovery will revitalize research in this area and create momentum for further development."
Lithium-air (or lithium-oxygen) batteries "breathe" oxygen from the air to power the chemical reactions that release electricity, rather than storing an oxidizer internally like lithium-ion batteries do. Because of this, lithium-air batteries boast an energy density comparable to gasoline—with theoretical energy densities as much as 10 times that of current lithium-ion batteries, giving them tremendous potential for storage of renewable energy, particularly in applications such as mobile devices and electric cars.
For example, at one-fifth the cost and weight of those presently on the market, a lithium-air battery would allow an electric car to drive 400 miles on a single charge and a mobile phone to last a week without recharging.
Practical attempts to increase lithium-air battery capacity so far have not yielded great results, Cho said, despite efforts from major corporations and universities. Until now, these attempts have resulted in low efficiency and poor rate performance, instability and unwanted chemical reactions.
Cho and Zheng have introduced new research that focuses on the electrolyte catalysts inside the battery, which, when combined with oxygen, create chemical reactions that create battery capacity. They said soluble-type catalysts possess significant advantages over conventional solid catalysts, generally exhibiting much higher efficiency. In particular, they found that only certain organic materials can be utilized as a soluble catalyst.
Based on that background, Cho and Zheng have collaborated with researchers at Seoul National University to create a new catalyst for the lithium-air battery called dimethylphenazine, which possesses higher stability and increased voltage efficiency.
"The catalyst should enable the lithium-air battery to become a more practical energy storage solution," Zheng said.
According to Cho, his catalyst research should open the door to additional advances in technology. But he said it could take five to 10 years before the research translates into new batteries that can be used in consumer devices and electric vehicles.
Cho said he has been providing research updates to car manufacturers and telecommunications companies, and said there has been interest in his studies.
"Automobile and mobile device batteries are facing serious challenges because they need higher capacity," he said.
"This is a major step," Cho said. "Hopefully it will revitalize the interest in lithium-air battery research, creating momentum that can make this practical, rather than just an academic research study."
Explore further: Stable "superoxide" opens the door to a new class of batteries
More information: Rational design of redox mediators for advanced Li-O2 batteries, Nature Energy, DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2016.66
...and hopefully laptops. My Sony Vaio which I otherwise really like, lasts less than two hours...
Five to ten years? What’s the point?...
They always say that, but if it is a real breakthrough, it will accelerate rapidly.....................
Great discovery. Of course it will take a while to use this commercially, but still, it is very encouraging.
Great, but where are the laser guns and the flying cars?
Sixteen years ago I found a small radio, 9x5inches, it had already been sitting in the garage for six years, but it turned on and worked. Its been sitting at my desk for 16years, every few months I turn it on, the batteries have Never Been Changed?
It shows that the problem is not insurmountable, and could lead other researchers into a new direction.....................
Is it solar powered?...................
Is it solar powered?...................
We already know Dlithium crystals are the answer, why don’t they go ahead and use them? Protectionist racket by the litihium ion guild is my guess.
It will happen around the time the pill that you put in your gas tank to increase mileage really works.
No, not Solar. The brand is a “Sound Sonic”, it runs on 3 Duracell batteries.
Good quality alkalines, haven’t leaked. Shelf life often given as ten years. The small radio doesn’t draw much current which helps.
I still have some truck/marine batteries 11 years old that still test good (used in a solar bank). A few have failed in the same bank although all were subject to the same conditions.
#8 Have you noticed a very old hamster on a wheel inside the radio? : )
And how many times has there been such a discovery in, say, the past five years? That explains why all our batteries last so much longer now. /s Thanks Red Badger.
Yeah, I know. Its actually fun, this thing will outlive me...
Interesting info.
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