Author: tsport100

New research paves the way for rechargeable batteries with almost indefinite lifetimes, researchers say.

If you pry open one of today’s ubiquitous high-tech devices — whether a cellphone, a laptop, or an electric car — you’ll find that batteries take up most of the space inside. Indeed, the recent evolution of batteries has made it possible to pack ample power in small places.

But people still always want their devices to last even longer, or go further on a charge, so researchers work night and day to boost the power a given size battery can hold. Rare, but widely publicized, incidents of overheating or combustion in lithium-ion batteries have also highlighted the importance of safety in battery technology.

Now researchers at MIT and Samsung, and in California and Maryland, have developed a new approach to one of the three basic components of batteries, the electrolyte. The new findings are based on the idea that a solid electrolyte, rather than the liquid used in today’s most common rechargeables, could greatly improve both device lifetime and safety — while providing a significant boost in the amount of power stored in a given space.

The results are reported in the journal Nature Materials in a paper by MIT postdoc Yan Wang, visiting professor of materials science and engineering Gerbrand Ceder, and five others. They describe a new approach to the development of solid-state electrolytes that could simultaneously address the greatest challenges associated with improving lithium-ion batteries, the technology now used in everything from cellphones to electric cars.

The electrolyte in such batteries — typically a liquid organic solvent whose function is to transport charged particles from one of a battery’s two electrodes to the other during charging and discharging — has been responsible for the overheating and fires that, for example, resulted in a temporary grounding of all of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jets, Ceder explains. Others have attempted to find a solid replacement for the liquid electrolyte, but this group is the first to show that this can be done in a formulation that fully meets the needs of battery applications.

Solid-state electrolytes could be “a real game-changer,” Ceder says, creating “almost a perfect battery, solving most of the remaining issues” in battery lifetime, safety, and cost.

Costs have already been coming down steadily, he says. But as for safety, replacing the electrolyte would be the key, Ceder adds: “All of the fires you’ve seen, with Boeing, Tesla, and others, they are all electrolyte fires. The lithium itself is not flammable in the state it’s in in these batteries. [With a solid electrolyte] there’s no safety problem — you could throw it against the wall, drive a nail through it — there’s nothing there to burn.”

The proposed solid electrolyte also holds other advantages, he says: “With a solid-state electrolyte, there’s virtually no degradation reactions left” — meaning such batteries could last through “hundreds of thousands of cycles.”

The key to making this feasible, Ceder says, was finding solid materials that could conduct ions fast enough to be useful in a battery. “There was a view that solids cannot conduct fast enough,” he says. “That paradigm has been overthrown.”

The research team was able to analyze the factors that make for efficient ion conduction in solids, and home in on compounds that showed the right characteristics. The initial findings focused on a class of materials known as superionic lithium-ion conductors, which are compounds of lithium, germanium, phosphorus, and sulfur, but the principles derived from this research could lead to even more effective materials, the team says.

The research that led to a workable solid-state electrolyte was part of an ongoing partnership with the Korean electronics company Samsung, through the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ceder says. That alliance also has led to important advances in the use of quantum-dot materials to create highly efficient solar cells and sodium batteries, he adds.

This solid-state electrolyte has other, unexpected side benefits: While conventional lithium-ion batteries do not perform well in extreme cold, and need to be preheated at temperatures below roughly minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the solid-electrolyte versions can still function at those frigid temperatures, Ceder says.

The solid-state electrolyte also allows for greater power density — the amount of power that can be stored in a given amount of space. Such batteries provide a 20 to 30 percent improvement in power density — with a corresponding increase in how long a battery of a given size could power a phone, a computer, or a car.

The team also included MIT graduate student William Richards and postdoc Jae Chul Kim; Shyue Ping Ong at the University of California at San Diego; Yifei Mo at the University of Maryland; and Lincoln Miara at Samsung. The work is part of an alliance between MIT and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology focusing on the development of materials for clean energy.

3M and LG Chem have entered into a patent license agreement to further expand the use of nickel, cobalt, manganese (NCM) in lithium ion batteries. Under the agreement, 3M grants LG Chem a license to U.S. Patents 6,660,432, 6,964,828, 7,078,128, 8,685,565 and 8,241,791 and all global equivalents including in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China and Europe.

NCM cathode compositions offer an outstanding balance of power, energy, thermal stability and low cost. NCM cathode materials can be tailored through changes in composition and morphology to meet a wide range of customer requirements from high-energy handheld consumer electronics to high-power electric vehicles.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with 3M,” said Kyunghwa Min, vice president of LG Chem IP Center. “This license will give our battery customers confidence in LG’s technology and our long-term commitment to the battery industry. The license also opens the door to new opportunities for LG Chem as a supplier of cathode materials to the battery industry.”

“LG Chem is a leader in the electric vehicle battery field, and NCM cathode compositions have shown significant benefit in large format applications, like electric vehicles,” said Christian Milker, business manager, 3M Electronics Materials Solutions Division. “This license will accelerate the adoption of NCM technology to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles worldwide.”

SK Innovation, the energy holding unit of SK Group, is accelerating its drive to expand its electric automobile battery business by kicking its lithium-ion battery production into full gear.

The Korean firm’s newly-expanded battery plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, has more than doubled its annual production capacity from 300 to 700 megawatt-hours -- sufficient to power around 30,000 electric vehicles, the company said.

Since the factory first opened its doors in September 2012, it has been enlarging its production lines every year to meet rising client demands, with the latest expansion completed in May.

The Seosan plant added a new production line this year to produce more batteries to be placed inside electric-powered vehicles by major automakers -- the Kia Soul EV and China-based BAIC Group’s EV200 and ES210, according to SK.

From the initial electrode manufacturing process to the cell assembly, cell activation and final packaging stages, the plant is churning out new battery packs nonstop, every day to fulfill its target quotas on time.

The nation’s leading energy firm is pinning high hopes on its expanded production capabilities to significantly drive up annual profits, as it looks to record a threefold increase in sales this year.

The plant is also at the center of company CEO Chung Chul-khil’s ongoing efforts to reform its business structure by strengthening select businesses and finding new sources of income in cooperation with overseas companies.

“Though we understand that the battery development business is a difficult one, we will not give up,” Chung told local reporters in May, reaffirming the company’s commitment to its fledgling rechargeable battery business.

The energy firm is particularly looking to direct its efforts on developing energy cells suited for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and BEVs, or vehicles powered solely by batteries, according to vice president of SK Innovation’s battery business Kim Yoo-suk.

“We will focus on developing next-generation lithium-ion battery cells with higher energy capacity and concentration, perceived as holding great growth potentials,” Kim said Wednesday.

“Demand for such batteries is expected to rise in line with an increase in global EV usage across the world over the next few years. Though currently supply exceeds demands in the status quo, this situation will turn around by 2018.”

Despite its limited resources and small size compared to rivals -- including the world’s top electric car battery producer Panasonic, as well as Samsung and LG -- SK Innovation is continuing to seal more supply deals with clients at home and abroad.

In January 2014, SK Energy joined hands with BAIC’s Beijing Automobile Works and liquid crystal display manufacturer Beijing Electronic Holding to establish Beijing BESK Technology, which has paved the way for the Korean energy firm to expand its presence in China’s burgeoning electric-powered vehicle market.

The Korean energy firm is also expected to further step up production after reportedly having sealed a deal with a major European automaker to develop car batteries to be placed in its EVs from 2016. The supply volume would be nearly “three times larger” than the combined output for its current clients, according to CEO Chung in May.

“On the back of our standout technology, SK will maximize its operational efficiency and strengthen cooperation with existing partners to better target the domestic and global electric car battery market,” said SK Innovation’s head of Battery and Information Electronic Materials Kim Hong-dae.