Posted on 10/06/2022 1:18:00 PM PDT by Red Badger
An electrode was manufactured by coating an ion conductive layer composed of polyethyleneimine polymer, silver, lithium salt, and carbon black on the surface of a copper current collector. The ion conductive substrate fabricated this way can operate the battery by effectively receiving and releasing lithium ions during charging and discharging. Credit: POSTECH
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The number of newly registered electric vehicles (EVs) in Korea surpassed 100,000 units last year alone. Norway is the only other country to match such numbers. The core materials that determine the battery life and charging speed of now commonly seen EVs are anode materials. Korea's domestic battery industry has been committed to finding revolutionary ways to increase the battery capacity by introducing new technologies or other anode materials. But what if we get rid of anode materials altogether?
A POSTECH research team led by Professor Soojin Park and Ph.D. candidate Sungjin Cho (Department of Chemistry) in collaboration with Professor Dong-Hwa Seo and Dr. Dong Yeon Kim (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) at Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed anode-free lithium batteries with performance of long battery life on a single charge.
The newly developed anode-free battery has a volumetric energy density of 977 Wh/L which is 40% higher than the conventional batteries (700 Wh/L). This means that the battery can run for 630 km on a single charge.
Batteries usually change the structure of anode materials as lithium ions flow to and from the electrode during repetitive charging and discharging. This is why the battery capacity decreases over time.
It was thought that if it was possible to charge and discharge only with a bare anode current collector without anode materials, the energy density—which determines the battery capacity—would increase. However, this method had a critical weakness which causes significant swelling of the anode volume and reduces the battery lifecycle. It swelled because there was no stable storage for lithium in the anode.
To overcome this issue, the research team succeeded in developing an anode-free battery in a commonly-used carbonate-based liquid electrolyte by adding an ion conductive substrate. The substrate not only forms an anode protective layer but also helps minimize the bulk expansion of the anode.
The study shows that the battery maintained high capacity of 4.2 mAh cm-2 and high current density of 2.1 mA cm-2 for a long period in the carbonate-based liquid electrolyte. It was also proven both in theory and through experiments that substrates can store lithium.
Further, what's drawing even more attention is that the team successfully demonstrated the solid- state half-cells by using Argyrodite-based sulfide-based solid electrolyte. It is anticipated that this battery will accelerate the commercialization of non-explosive batteries since it maintains high capacity for longer periods.
The study was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials.
Explore further
Reactive electrolyte additives improve lithium metal battery performance More information: Sungjin Cho et al, Highly Reversible Lithium Host Materials for High‐Energy‐Density Anode‐Free Lithium Metal Batteries, Advanced Functional Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202208629 Journal information: Advanced Functional Materials Provided by Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
See also Gasoline from algea.
“What illiterate moron writes this drivel?
So they succeeded in developing an anode-free battery, but whatever they added “forms an anode protective layer but also helps minimize the bulk expansion of the anode.”
Uh?? I thought it was anode free!”
The “illiterate moron”. knows more about batteries than you do.
TVA electricity... that indicates the region. In my case, I’ll say “North Alabama”, but I won’t get any more specific in a public forum.
You asked “by how much”, and 33% should have been an adequate answer.
I guess I’ll not bother to provide any useful info in the future if you’re gonna be annoyed when others answer your questions.
It still doesn’t address the problem with expense and infrastructure.
The only thing worse than the writing of this article is the comments.
Range has NOTHING to do with the individual battery, it comes from the pack size, and power density. Period. Then on top of that you have recharge cycles.
It’s possible to make a 500 mile battery pack, and it be about 1.5 Million miles capable (that would only take 3000 recharges).
“You asked “by how much”, and 33% should have been an adequate answer.”
No. To make a comparison to gas the price after the increase is required.
You say Alabama so I will say that even with a 33% increase the EV still has a fuel cost advantage.
“I guess I’ll not bother to provide any useful info in the future “
Your info was not useful.
Great! Now, how far will it go in a car?
You gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet...
Maybe you can enlighten this moron.
How does an “anode free” battery get an anode that needs to be protected from bulk expansion? And why if it’s anode free?
Wow, 1000 lbs is about 160 gallons of gas, which would take you easily across the country at 20 mpg, or about 4000 km. That’s about a 70:1 ratio, gas vs. battery, as a storage medium by weight.
Com’on man, you’re an engineer and “do” metric.
I know. I actually prefer SI units, but didn’t want to get yelled at.
Base 10 makes sense, English units are just nonsense to me.
I convert metric to base 8. I’m an old software engineer. (Just kidding, only had brief brushes with octal.)
Any hexadecimal?
977 Wh/L??
“The Bar” (gasoline) is 9300 Wh/L
Read ‘em and weep.
Base 10 makes sense, English units are just nonsense to me.
Speed of light in octal: 2.167474112x1011 m/s.
Tons
I have never seen that one before. :)
The funny thing is almost none of my schooling applies to my job.
All that hard work for nothing.
(Not really nothing as knowledge is something)
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