Solid-state battery breakthrough could double the density of lithium-ion cells

Newatlas.com 29-11-2019

Researchers at Australia’s Deakin University say they’ve managed to use common industrial polymers to create solid electrolytes, opening the door to double-density solid-state lithium batteries that won’t explode or catch fire if they overheat.

The new technology uses a solid polymer material, weakly bonded to the lithium-ion, to replace the volatile liquid solvents typically used as electrolytes in current battery cells. The liquid electrolyte is the part of the system that becomes flammable during the kinds of infamous battery fires Samsung would rather forget.

In addition to making batteries safer, the team believes this solid polymer electrolyte will finally allow batteries to work with a lithium metal anode. That would be big news in the battery world, where the lithium anode has been recently described in Trends in Chemistry as “critical to break the energy-density bottleneck of current Li-ion chemistry”

…this could be a way to double the energy density of lithium batteries…At this stage, it’s been tested in a coin cell battery.

Trade-offs in Different Applications

Merely increasing the energy density of the Lithium-ion batteries may not create an impact on the industry.

Increase energy density may decrease the life cycle of a Lithium-ion battery.

In the electric vehicle application, the travel range per charge can be increased but the lifetime range of the battery may not be increased. Tesla currently aims at 1 million miles for its battery pack.

Increase energy density may decrease the maximum discharge current or charging current capability.

The maximum discharge current will affect the maximum speed and power of sports cars. The charging current capability will affect the charging time of commercial vehicles.

Conclusion

The major benefit of a solid-state battery is that it is inflammable, which is crucial to mobile phone users as well as commercial flight carriers. There have been so many accidents related to Lithium-ion batteries got fire.

The author has 30 years of experience in the Lithium-ion battery industry from the laptop application, electric vehicle, to large energy storage.

To learn more about Lithium-ion batteries, please visit everspring.net