The future of battery technology: silicon anode, graphene, aluminum oxygen battery, etc.

Publisher:DreamySerenityLatest update time:2020-04-26 Source: 36氪Author: Lemontree Reading articles on mobile phones Scan QR code
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China Energy Storage Network: Electric technology is the future of a green planet, and battery technology is the foundation of electric technology and the key to restricting the large-scale development of electric technology. The current mainstream battery technology is lithium-ion batteries, which have good energy density and high efficiency. However, lithium is a rare element with high cost and limited resources; at the same time, with the growth of the use of renewable energy, the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is no longer sufficient. How to deal with it? Mayank Jain counted some battery technologies that may be adopted in the future. The original article was published on medium with the title: The Future of Battery Technology

The Earth is full of energy, and we're doing our best to capture and use it. While we've gotten better at transitioning to renewable energy, we haven't gotten as far when it comes to storing it.

Currently, the highest standard in battery technology is the lithium-ion battery, which appears to have the best energy density, high efficiency (around 99%), and very long life.

So what's the problem? As the amount of renewable energy we capture continues to grow, the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is no longer enough.

Since we can keep mass-producing batteries, this may not seem like a big deal, but the problem is that lithium is a relatively rare metal and, therefore, it is expensive. Although the cost of producing batteries is falling, the demand for energy storage is also increasing rapidly.

We have reached a point where, once a battery is created to replace lithium-ion, it will have a huge impact on the energy industry.

The fact that fossil fuels are more energy dense is a huge factor impeding the transition to full reliance on renewable energy. We need batteries that emit more energy than their weight.

How Lithium-ion Batteries Work

Lithium batteries work like regular AA or AAA chemistry batteries. They have an anode terminal and a cathode terminal, with an electrolyte in between. Unlike regular batteries, the discharge reaction in lithium-ion batteries is reversible, so the battery can be recharged over and over again.

The cathode (+ terminal) is made of lithium iron phosphate and the anode (- terminal) is made of graphite, which is made of carbon. Electricity is just the flow of electrons. These batteries create an electric current by moving lithium ions between the anode and cathode.

During charging, the ions move to the anode, and during discharging, the ions move to the cathode.

This movement of ions causes the movement of electrons in the circuit, so the movement of lithium ions and electrons are related.

Silicon anode battery

Many large automakers like BMW have been investing in the development of silicon anode batteries. Like regular lithium-ion batteries, these batteries use lithium anodes, but instead of carbon-based anodes, they use silicon.

The reason silicon works better than graphite as an anode is that it takes four carbon atoms to hold lithium, while one silicon atom can hold four lithium ions. This is a major upgrade...making silicon three times more powerful than graphite.

Still, the use of lithium is a double-edged sword. The material is still expensive, but it's easier to shift production facilities to silicon cells. If the cells were completely different, the factories would have to be completely redesigned, making the switch slightly less attractive.

Silicon anodes are made by processing sand to produce pure silicon, but the biggest problem researchers currently face is that silicon anodes expand when used. This causes the battery to degrade too quickly. And the anodes are also difficult to mass-produce.

Graphene battery

Graphene, a thin sheet of carbon made from the same material as pencils but expensive to glue onto, has been hailed for its performance in many use cases, including batteries.

Some companies are working on graphene batteries that can be fully charged in minutes and discharge 33 times faster than lithium-ion batteries. This is of great value for electric vehicles.

Foam battery

Currently, conventional batteries are two-dimensional. They are either stacked like lithium-ion batteries or rolled up like a typical AA or lithium-ion battery.

The foam battery is a completely new concept that involves the movement of electric charges in three-dimensional space.

This 3D structure allows for faster charging times and higher energy density, both extremely important qualities in batteries. And unlike most other batteries, the foam batteries also do not have harmful liquid electrolytes.

Foam batteries use a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyte that can conduct lithium ions while also insulating it from other electronic devices.

The anode, which holds the battery's negative charge, is made of copper foam coated with the desired active material.

The solid electrolyte is then coated around the anode.

Finally, a paste called "cathode slurry" is used to fill the gaps inside the battery.

Aluminum Oxygen Battery

These batteries have one of the highest energy densities of any battery. They are more powerful and lighter than current lithium-ion batteries. Some claim that these batteries could give electric cars a range of 2,000 kilometers. What does that mean? For reference, a Tesla has a maximum range of about 600 kilometers.

The problem with these batteries is that they are not rechargeable. They work by reacting aluminum and oxygen in a water-based electrolyte to produce aluminum hydroxide and release energy. The use of the battery consumes the aluminum in the anode.

Sodium battery

Currently, Japanese scientists are studying the manufacture of batteries that use sodium to replace lithium.

This would be disruptive because sodium batteries are theoretically seven times more efficient than lithium batteries. Another huge advantage is that sodium is the sixth most abundant element on Earth, while lithium is a relatively rare element.

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