Battery breakthroughs

This is probably the most compelling battery breakthrough I've seen in a while. Basically saying a 400% increase in energy density is possible using silicone-carbon hybrid anodes. It is also capable of fast charging and has good cycle life.

Nano/Microstructured Silicon–Carbon Hybrid Composite Particles Fabricated with Corn Starch Biowaste as Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

Absract
nl9b04395_0008.gif


Silicon has a great potential as an alternative to graphite which is currently used commercially as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its exceptional capacity and reasonable working potential. Herein, a low-cost and scalable approach is proposed for the production of high-performance silicon–carbon (Si–C) hybrid composite anodes for high-energy LIBs. The Si–C composite material is synthesized using a scalable microemulsion method by selecting silicon nanoparticles, using low-cost corn starch as a biomass precursor and finally conducting heat treatment under C3H6 gas. This produces a unique nano/microstructured Si–C hybrid composite comprised of silicon nanoparticles embedded in micron-sized amorphous carbon balls derived from corn starch that is capsuled by thin graphitic carbon layer. Such a dual carbon matrix tightly surrounds the silicon nanoparticles that provides high electronic conductivity and significantly decreases the absolute stress/strain of the material during multiple lithiation-delithiation processes. The Si–C hybrid composite anode demonstrates a high capacity of 1800 mAh g–1, outstanding cycling stability with capacity retention of 80% over 500 cycles, and fast charge–discharge capability of 12 min. Moreover, the Si–C composite anode exhibits good acceptability in practical LIBs assembled with commercial Li[Ni0.6Co0.2Mn0.2]O2 and Li[Ni0.80Co0.15Al0.05]O2 cathodes.
 
Domenick said:
This is probably the most compelling battery breakthrough I've seen in a while. Basically saying a 400% increase in energy density is possible using silicone-carbon hybrid anodes. It is also capable of fast charging and has good cycle life.
Click to expand...

That will be a great progress when it comes out. Meanwhile there are other smaller improvements in battery technology

https://newatlas.com/science/deakin-solid-state-battery-polymer-electrolyte/
Solid state battery breakthrough could double the density of lithium-ion cells

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....Dr. Wang says this could be a way to double the energy density of lithium batteries, which, in commercial settings, are currently peaking at around 250 Wh/kg (in Tesla's Model 3 battery pack). Getting that up toward 500 Wh/kg would allow massively extended ranges, or smaller, cheaper and vastly lighter battery packs. It's not the 10X jump everyone seems to believe is coming down the pipeline, but it would be very significant.

 
While these things are interesting, I just assume that it could be 3-5 years (or more) before any of this is ready for prime time.
 
ericy said:
While these things are interesting, I just assume that it could be 3-5 years (or more) before any of this is ready for prime time.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, if not more. These papers published in academic articles make good news, but there is so much of work to be done after that, it is mind boggling. Most of these are universities and research institutions and they would obviously like to get some patents and license the technology. Then a manufacturer has to to get involved and they have to have business case, and many good ideas may fail the test right there. It is not commercially viable. Some things are very nice but cannot be manufactured at a price consumers will buy. Or something better comes along in say 3-4 years that this idea is no more as good. So only a very small portion of the good ideas make it to the market. We should not forget that.
 
For many years, I followed: https://www.greencarcongress.com

Like a science and technology digest, they had a lot of 'press releases' and announcements about efficient car/vehicle technology. So I would often get interesting insights only to be disappointed when that was the last I heard of it. For example, opposed piston engines which exists as a 'we will license' business model. A similar term, 'patent sitters.'

I still recommend GreenCarCongress as a 'digest' but have a salt lick or 'knock on wood' handy.

Bob Wilson
 
I often find find reports of new battery tech demonstrated in the lab, or sometimes just posed as a theory, to be interesting reading. But I've learned to never, ever expect any reports to actually lead to any commercial product.

Back in the days of TheEEStory forum, circa 2008-2012 or 2013, we used to see breathless wide-eyed reports of new battery tech about every two weeks. I think in the past few years they have been even more frequent. But in all the time since I started reading about such things, since 2008, there has been only one single breakthru in battery tech which has been developed into a commercial product. That was LG Chem's so-called "200 mile battery", which was a new battery chemistry for li-ion batteries. So that's very roughly 1 in 264. Not exactly high odds of any particular announcement leading to anything!

However, I expect before long to be able to say there is a 2nd case: Maxwell's "dry electrode" tech, which Tesla apparently has an exclusive right to, and there are several signs and/or rumors pointing to Tesla putting that into production.
​
 
and quebec holds the rights to john b goodenough's solid state electrolyte.
that was the one they created the battery that got better storage the more it was used.
apparently it's only the solid state electrolyte that they have though.
maybe team up with alberta here and get some lithium going and alberta a new industry.
invest in the future rather than subsidizing the past.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top