Batteries & Energy Storage news and discussions

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caltrek
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Korea Institute of Science and Technology has Developed a Core Technology for Aqueous Zinc Batteries
July 25, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Most energy storage systems (ESSs) have recently adopted lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with the highest technology maturity among secondary batteries. However, these are argued to be unsuitable for ESSs, which store substantial amounts of electricity, owing to fire risks. The instability of the international supply of raw materials to construct LIBs has also emerged as a crucial concern. By contrast, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) use water as the electrolyte, which fundamentally prevents battery ignition. Furthermore, the price of zinc, the raw material, is only one-sixteenth of that of lithium.

The research team led by Dr. Minah Lee at the Energy Storage Research Center in the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST; President Seok-Jin Yoon) announced that they had succeeded in developing a technology for manufacturing “high-density zinc metal anodes,” which is key to commercializing AZIBs. This manufacturing technology is expected to act as a catalyst for the mass production of AZIBs because zinc metal anodes with high energy density and long lifespan can be produced through a simple electroplating process by using low-cost and ecofriendly solutions.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959593
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New material pushes sodium-ion batteries to phase out costly lithium
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-08-mat ... ostly.html
by Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

With lithium prices over five times higher than they were a year ago, researchers from Skoltech and Lomonosov Moscow State University have developed a material for sodium-ion batteries that offer an alternative to the increasingly expensive lithium-ion tech. The new material is a powder of sodium-vanadium phosphate fluoride with a particular crystal structure. Used in the battery cathode, it provides record-high energy storage capacity, eliminating one of the bottlenecks of the emerging sodium-ion technology. The research findings are reported in Nature Communications.

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere: Among other things, they power portable electronics and electric vehicles, and store the energy produced by wind farms to even out irregular wind patterns. However, relying on lithium alone is risky, because its chemicals are growing ever more expensive, their production is rather dirty, and the ore deposits are unevenly distributed around the world. One step down in the periodic table, the much more abundant alkali metal sodium lends itself as a possible alternative to lithium.
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Rensselaer Researchers Propose Calcium-ion as an Affordable and Sustainable Alternative to Lithium-ion Batteries
August 2, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) TROY, N.Y. — Concerns regarding scarcity, high prices, and safety regarding the long-term use of lithium-ion batteries has prompted a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to propose a greener, more efficient, and less expensive energy storage alternative.

In research published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), corresponding author Nikhil Koratkar, the John A. Clark and Edward T. Crossan Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer, and his team, assert that calcium ions could be used as an alternative to lithium-ions in batteries because of its abundance and low cost.

“The vast majority of rechargeable battery products are based on lithium-ion technology, which is the gold standard in terms of performance,” said Dr. Koratkar. “However, the Achilles’ heel for lithium-ion technology is cost. Lithium is a limited resource on the planet, and its price has increased drastically in recent years. We are working on an inexpensive, abundant, safe, and sustainable battery chemistry that uses calcium ions in an aqueous, water-based electrolyte.”
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/960623
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New Magnesium Superionic Conductor Towards Lithium-free Solid-state Batteries
August 4, 2022

Extract:
(EurekAlert) Magnesium ion (Mg2+)-based batteries have gained momentum as an alternative to Li+ (lithium ion). The earth’s crust holds ample magnesium, and Mg2+-based energy devices are said to have high energy densities, high safety, and low cost. But the wide application of Mg2+ is limited by its poor conductivity in solids at room temperature. Mg2+ has poor solid-state conductivity because divalent positive ions (2+) experience strong interactions with their neighboring negative ions in a solid crystal, impeding their migration through the material.

This hurdle was recently overcome by a research team from the Tokyo University of Science (TUS). In their new study published online on 4 May 2022 and on 18 May 2022 in volume 144 issue 19 of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report for the first time, a solid-state Mg2+ conductor with superionic conductivity of 10−3 S cm−1 (the threshold for practical application in solid-state batteries). This magnitude of conductivity for Mg2+ conductors is the highest reported to date.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/960875

For a technical discussion of the study: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c01612
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National University of Singapore Researchers Invent Self-charging, Ultra-thin Device that Generates Electricity from Air Moisture
August 17, 2022

Summary:
(EurekAlert) A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has developed a new moisture-driven electricity generation device made of a thin layer of fabric, sea salt, carbon ink, and a special water-absorbing gel. The device works by keeping one end of the fabric dry, while the other end is perpetually wet. The difference in moisture content of the wet and dry regions of the carbon-coated fabric creates an electric current. This rechargeable fabric-like battery can produce electricity for more than 150 hours and provides higher electrical output than a conventional AA battery, potentially powering everyday electronics.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962059
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A New Concept for Low-cost Batteries
August 24, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) As the world builds out ever larger installations of wind and solar power systems, the need is growing fast for economical, large-scale backup systems to provide power when the sun is down and the air is calm. Today’s lithium-ion batteries are still too expensive for most such applications, and other options such as pumped hydro require specific topography that’s not always available.

Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new kind of battery, made entirely from abundant and inexpensive materials, that could help to fill that gap.

The new battery architecture, which uses aluminum and sulfur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in between, is described in the journal Nature, in a paper by MIT Professor Donald Sadoway, along with 15 others at MIT and in China, Canada, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

“I wanted to invent something that was better, much better, than lithium-ion batteries for small-scale stationary storage, and ultimately for automotive [uses],” explains Sadoway, who is the John F. Elliott Professor Emeritus of Materials Chemistry.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962509
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Toyota invests in EV battery production in Japan, US
Source: AP
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is investing 730 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in Japan and the U.S. to boost production of batteries for electric vehicles, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.

Production is set to start between 2024 and 2026. In Japan, 400 billion yen ($3 billion) will go into the Himeji Plant of Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Co. in Japan, as well as in Toyota plants and property. In the U.S., about 325 billion yen ($2.5 billion) will be invested in Toyota Battery Manufacturing in North Carolina, Toyota Motor Corp. said.

Toyota has scored success with the Prius and other hybrid models, which have an engine as well as a battery-driven electric motor, and so the company has at times been seen as a laggard on electric vehicles. But the global demand for electric vehicles is expected to grow in coming years as gas prices rise and concerns grow about the environment.

Earlier this week, Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. announced with major South Korean battery maker LG that they were investing $4.4 billion in a joint venture in the United States to produce batteries for Honda electric vehicles in the North American market, with mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells to start by the end of 2025.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-j ... 31c0e2945e
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New cathode design solves major barrier to better lithium-ion batteries
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-cat ... eries.html
by Joseph E. Harmon, Argonne National Laboratory
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have a long history of breakthrough discoveries with lithium-ion batteries. Many of these discoveries have focused on a battery cathode known as NMC, a nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide. Batteries with this cathode now power the Chevy Bolt.

Argonne researchers have made another breakthrough with the NMC cathode. The team's new structure for the cathode's micro-sized particles could lead to longer-lasting and safer batteries able to operate at very high voltage and power vehicles for longer driving ranges. A paper on this research appeared in Nature Energy.

"The present-day NMC cathode has posed a major barrier to operation at high voltage," said Guiliang Xu, assistant chemist. With charge-discharge cycling, performance rapidly declines due to cracks forming in the cathode particles. For several decades, battery researchers have been seeking ways to eliminate these cracks.

One past approach involved microscale spherical particles consisting of numerous much smaller particles. The large spherical particles are polycrystalline, with differently oriented crystalline regions. As a result, they have what scientists refer to as grain boundaries between particles, which cause cracking upon battery cycling. To prevent this, Xu and Argonne colleagues had previously developed a protective polymer coating around each particle. This coating surrounds the large spherical particles and smaller ones inside them.

A different approach to avoid this cracking involves single-crystal particles. Electron microscopy of these particles indicated they have no boundaries.
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10 alternatives to lithium-ion batteries: Which new tech will power the future?
September 7, 2022

Lithium-ion batteries have taken over the world. Tesla has bet big on them and built a Gigafactory that is now knocking out Tesla car batteries, as well as Powerwall and Powerpacks for homes and business. many other manufacturers are working on their own supply chains of lithium-ion batteries.

But battery tech is cutting-edge. We are one breakthrough away from one of the multitude of lithium-ion battery alternatives taking over. Lithium-ion batteries could be yesterday’s news and take their place next to the floppy disk in the dust bin of history.

Also read: The best electric motorcycles – The best electric cars – The best electric scooters

So what are the likely contenders for the title of power source of the future? Here are our picks for the top lithium-ion alternatives, but bear in mind it could be a combination or a development of any one of these technologies that could eventually win the race to replace lithium-ion.

10 lithium-ion battery alternatives

[*]Hydrogen fuel cells
[*]Lithium-sulfur batteries
[*]Graphene supercapacitors
[*]Redox flow batteries
[*]Aluminum-graphite batteries
[*]Bioelectrochemical batteries
[*]Solar panels
[*]Powered roads
[*]Thin-film batteries
[*]Solid-state batteries
https://greenauthority.com/10-alternati ... teries-79/
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'Game-changing' new battery for electric cars charges in 3 minutes and lasts for 20 YEARS - more than twice as long as current EV batteries
Daily Mail ^ | Published: 21:24 EDT, 15 September 2022 | Updated: 21:46 EDT, 15 September 2022 | Jonathan Chadwick

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... years.html
A 'game-changing' new battery for electric vehicles (EVs) that charges in three minutes and lasts for 20 years could soon be coming to new cars.

Adden Energy, a start-up based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has been granted a licence and $5.15 million in funding to build the battery design at scale to fit in EVs.

The battery, developed by Harvard scientists, is lithium metal, rather than lithium ion found in EVs that are already on the market.

Its intricate design, inspired by a BLT sandwich, prevents the growth of troublesome 'dendrites' that grow in lithium-metal batteries and shorten their lifespan.

The new technology has been created by Xin Li and colleagues at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

Adden Energy was co-founded in 2021 by Li, along with William Fitzhugh and Luhan Ye, both of whom contributed to the development of the technology as graduate students in Li’s Harvard lab.

The startup aims to scale the battery up to a palm-sized 'pouch cell' – which has components enclosed in an aluminium-coated film – and then toward a full-scale vehicle battery in the next three to five years.

'We have achieved in the lab 5,000 to 10,000 charge cycles in a battery's lifetime, compared with 2,000 to 3,000 charging cycles for even the best in class now, and we don’t see any fundamental limit to scaling up our battery technology,' said Li. 'That could be a game changer.'

Lithium-metal batteries hold substantially more energy in the same volume and charge in a fraction of the time compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries.

But they're prone to the formation of 'dendrites' – tiny, rigid tree-like structures that speed up battery failure.

Researchers have therefore tried to harness the potential of solid-state, lithium-metal batteries, using a unique BLT-inspired design.
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