. 24/7 Space News .
ENERGY TECH
Chemical engineers pack more energy in same space for reliable battery
by Staff Writers
College Park, MD (SPX) Jul 19, 2018

UMD researchers and partners have increased a rechargeable battery's capacity.

The success of electric car batteries depends on the miles that can be driven on a single charge, but the current crop of lithium-ion batteries are reaching their natural limit of how much charge can be packed into any given space, keeping drivers on a short tether.

Now, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD), the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have figured out how to increase a rechargeable battery's capacity by using aggressive electrodes and then stabilizing these potentially dangerous electrode materials with a highly-fluorinated electrolyte.

A peer-reviewed paper based on the research was published July 16 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"We have created a fluorine-based electrolyte to enable a lithium-metal anode, which is known to be notoriously unstable, and demonstrated a battery that lasts up to a thousand cycles with high capacity," said co-first authors Xiulin Fan and Long Chen, postdoctoral researchers at UMD's A. James Clark School of Engineering.

The new batteries can thus charge and discharge many times over without losing the ability to provide a reliable and high quality stream of energy. Even after a thousand charge cycles, the fluorine enhanced electrolytes ensured 93% of battery capacity, which the authors call "unprecedented." This means that a car running on this technology would reliably drive the same number of miles for many years.

"The cycle lives they achieved with the given electrode materials and operation voltage windows sound 'unprecedented.' This work is a [sic] great progress forward in the battery field in the direction of increasing the energy density, although further tuning might be needed to meet various standards for commercialization," said Jang Wook Choi, an associate professor in chemical and biological engineering at Seoul National University in South Korea. Choi was not involved with the research.

The team demonstrated the batteries in coin-cell shape like a watch battery for testing and is working with industry partners to use the electrolytes for a high voltage battery.

These aggressive materials, such as the lithium-metal anode and nickel and high-voltage cathode materials, are called such because they react strongly with other material, meaning that they can hold a lot of energy but also tend to "eat up" any other elements they're partnered with, rendering them unusable.

Chunsheng Wang, professor in the Clark School's Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, has collaborated with Kang Xu at ARL and Khalil Amine at ANL on these new electrolyte materials for batteries.

Since each element on the periodic table has a different arrangement of electrons, Wang studies how each permutation of chemical structure can be an advantage or disadvantage in a battery. He and Xu also head up an industry-university-government collaborative effort called the Center for Research in Extreme Batteries, which aims to unite companies that need batteries for unusual uses with the researchers who can invent them.

"The aim of the research was to overcome the capacity limitation that lithium-ion batteries experience. We identified that fluorine is the key ingredient that ensures these aggressive chemistries behave reversibly to yield long battery life. An additional merit of fluorine is that it makes the usually combustible electrolytes completely unable to catch on fire," said Wang.

The team captured video of several battery cells catching on fire in instants, but the fluorine battery was impervious.

The high population of fluorine-containing species in the interphases is the key to making the material work, even though results have varied for different researchers in the past regarding the fluorination.

"You can find evidences from literature that either support or disapprove fluorine as good ingredient in interphases," said Xu, laboratory fellow and team leader of the research at ARL. "What we learned in this work is that, in most cases it is not just what chemical ingredients you have in the interphase, but how they are arranged and distributed."

Research paper


Related Links
University of Maryland
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


ENERGY TECH
Salt is key ingredient for cheaper and more efficient batteries
Nottingham UK (SPX) Jul 16, 2018
A new design of rechargeable battery, created using salt, could lead the way for greener energy. Researchers at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) have joined forces with a specialist group at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences on designs for the novel energy store which allows for greater power while also lasting longer than conventional batteries. Growing demand for electric vehicles and more sustainable forms of transport means finding n ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

ENERGY TECH
NASA and Peanuts Worldwide to Collaborate on Deep Space Learning Activities

Russian cargo ship docks at ISS in record time

Google parent 'graduates' moonshot projects Loon, Wing

Testing Refines Requirements for Deep Space Habitat Design

ENERGY TECH
Largest-ever solid rocket motor poised for first hot firing

Experimental Spaceplane Program Successfully Completes Engine Test Series

Aerojet Rocketdyne demonstrates 24-Hour turnaround of AR-22 Engine

Chinese Space Company Planning Launch of Largest Privately Owned Liquid Rocket

ENERGY TECH
Scientists Discover "Ghost Dunes" On Mars

Airbus wins two ESA studies for Mars Sample Return mission

NASA listens out for Opportunity everyday

UK space sector set to benefit from new European Space Agency contract

ENERGY TECH
China readying for space station era: Yang Liwei

China launches new space science program

China Rising as Major Space Power

China launches new-tech experiment twin satellites

ENERGY TECH
mu Space confirms payload on Blue Origin's upcoming New Shepard flight

China Mulls Creation of Joint Global Satellite System with Russia

EIB and ESA to cooperate on increasing investments in the European Space Sector

Laser-Based System is Set to Expand Space-to-Ground Communication

ENERGY TECH
Chinese scientists achieve success in nitrogen metallization

A high-yield perovskite catalyst for the oxidation of sulfides

Photonic capsules for injectable laser resonators

Paper-cut provides model for 3D intelligent nanofabrication

ENERGY TECH
TESS Spacecraft Continues Testing Prior to First Observations

NASA's Webb Space Telescope to Inspect Atmospheres of Gas Giant Exoplanets

Rocky planet neighbor looks familiar, but is not Earth's twin

NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Pauses Science Observations to Download Science Data

ENERGY TECH
First Global Maps of Pluto and Charon from New Horizons Published

Europa's Ocean Ascending

Jupiter's moons create uniquely patterned aurora on the gas giant planet

'Cataclysmic' collision shaped Uranus' evolution









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.