Better battery imaging paves way for renewable energy future

 

Chemical phase map showing how the electrochemical discharge of iron fluoride microwires proceeded from 0 percent discharge (left), to 50 percent (middle), to 95 percent. Image: Linsen Li In a move that could improve the energy storage of everything from portable electronics to electric microgrids, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the electrochemical reactions in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries containing a new type of material, iron fluoride. "Iron fluoride has the potential to triple the amount of energy a conventional lithium-ion battery can store," says Song Jin, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry and Wisconsin Energy Institute affiliate. "However, we have yet to tap its true potential." Song Jin Graduate student Linsen Li worked with Jin and other collaborators to perform experiments with a state-of-the-art transmission X-ray microscope at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven. There, they collected chemical maps from actual coin cell batteries filled with iron fluoride during battery cycling to determine how well they perform. The results are published today in the journal Nature Communications. "In the past, we weren't able to truly understand what is happening to iron fluoride during battery reactions because other battery components were getting in the way of getting a precise image," says Li. By accounting for the background signals that would otherwise confuse the image, Li was able to accurately visualize and measure, at the nanoscale, the chemical changes iron fluoride undergoes to store and discharge energy. Thus far, using iron fluoride in rechargeable lithium ion batteries has presented scientists with two challenges. The first is that it doesn't recharge very well in its current form. "This would be like your smart phone only charging half as much the first time, and even less thereafter," says Li. "Consumers would rather have a battery that charges consistently through hundreds of charges." Linsen Li By examining iron fluoride transformation in batteries at the nanoscale, Jin and Li's new X-ray imaging method pinpoints each individual reaction to understand why capacity decay may be occurring. "In analyzing the X-ray data on this level, we were able to track the electrochemical reactions with far more accuracy than previous methods, and determined that iron fluoride performs better when it has a porous microstructure," says Li. The second challenge is that iron fluoride battery materials don't discharge as much energy as they take in, reducing energy efficiency. The current study yielded some preliminary insights into this problem and Jin and Li plan to tackle this challenge in future experiments. Some implications of this research are obvious — like using portable electronic devices for longer before charging — but Jin also foresees a bigger and broader range of applications. "If we can maximize the cycling performance and efficiency of these low-cost and abundant iron fluoride lithium ion battery materials, we could advance large-scale renewable energy storage technologies for electric cars and microgrids," he says. Jin also believes that the novel X-ray imaging technique will facilitate the studies of other technologically important solid-state transformations and help to improve processes such as preparation of inorganic ceramics and thin-film solar cells. The experiments were performed with the help of Yu-chen Karen Chen-Wiegart, Feng Wang, Jun Wang and their co-workers at Beamline X8C, National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences and a seed grant from the Wisconsin Energy Institute. The synthesis of the battery materials in Jin's lab was supported by National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research.  —Mark E. Griffin   http://news.wisc.edu/23687

Keeping the ions close: A new activity

 

Understanding the conditions and pathways that position populations of isolated ions and shared proton species as they react in water allows scientists to better understand the chemistry of concentrated hydrogen chloride solutions, which has implications in chemical processes ranging from refining oil to building longer-lasting batteries. Here, the reaction shows hydrogen chloride dissociating in water. The chloride ion is green, hydrogen is white, and oxygen is red. Credit: Image courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Improving chemical reactions ranging from refining oil to building longer-lasting batteries means understanding the chemistry of acids and bases. Researchers discovered that when a strong acid such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) is mixed with water, the negative anion and positive cation remain close and create an unexpected structure. These results provide a better understanding of the complexity of acid/base chemistry in concentrated, non-ideal chemical solutions. This new study -- detailing the important role of the counter ion (chloride in the case of HCl) in the reaction network of acids behavior -- provides a template to connect structure and function. The connection can help scientists develop a deeper understanding of the most basic concepts in chemistry and provide foundational information for use in battery applications. Introductory chemistry textbooks state that when an acid is added to water that the positive and negatively charged ions quickly separate from each other based on research with low acidic concentrations. With strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid (HCl), it was thought to be the same situation: the positive ions of hydrogen (H+) diffuse -- creating the acidity of the solution, neutralizing basic substances, corroding metals and/or reacting with organic substances -- and then quickly associate with water to become a hydronium ion or H3O+, while the chloride counter ion (Cl-) forms independent, negatively charged solvated fragments. However, the fundamental properties of the counter ions surrounded by water have not been thoroughly experimentally studied. Now researchers using computational and experimental methods examine low, medium, and high concentrations of HCl in liquid water and discovered that the negatively charged Cl- and the positively charged H+ actually remain closer to each other in an unexpected structure throughout the entire concentration range studied. The researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory combined extended X-ray absorption fine structure, neutron diffraction, and X-ray diffraction measurements using the Argonne Advanced Photon Source with state-of-the-art density functional theory simulations. Specifically, the researchers measured the distance and geometry between the chloride ion and the oxygen in the hydronium ion comprising the contact ion pair -- finding that it was significantly shorter than the interaction between chloride and the oxygen of water as expected in an ideal dissociation picture. These structures differed significantly from those studied in the gas phases, which were used in prior computational models. The team is now examining more complex ions with the idea of tuning them to specific purposes. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Department of Energy, Office of Science. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Marcel D. Baer, John L. Fulton, Mahalingam Balasubramanian, Gregory K. Schenter, Christopher J. Mundy. Persistent Ion Pairing in Aqueous Hydrochloric Acid. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2014; 118 (26): 7211 DOI: 10.1021/jp501091h   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150828143104.htm

Ohm intelligent car battery refuses to die

 

The Ohm is designed as a smarter form of car battery It's a terrible feeling. You're already late for wherever you're going, so you rush into the car and slam the door shut. You put the key in, give it the usual twist and ... nothing, not a peep. Dead battery. Many a driver has experienced this issue at one point or another, and most would prefer not to repeat it. The Ohm smart battery was designed to help make sure you never do. The car battery is one of those items that most people really don't want to think too much about. They want to replace it as infrequently as possible and then have it just work, every time, without fuss. It's no surprise, therefore, that the car battery is largely the big, heavy, electrochemical block that it was generations ago. It does its job pretty well, and you don't really have to think about it much. Silicon Valley startup Ohm Laboratories believes there's some room for improvement and new thinking, though. More than just a battery, its Ohm battery is an energy storage and management system in a battery-sized case. Its integrated processor monitors power level and automatically cuts power when the battery drops to a critical level. So if you accidentally leave your lights on, Ohm will shut itself down before going dead and then turn itself back on within about 30 seconds when you start up the car. The self shut-off system is a handy feature to have during the battery's effective life, but there's one dead battery issue it can't help with: end of life. That's why the battery also has a replacement warning system. The system beeps to let you know it's time for replacement, and Ohm says it works more quickly and accurately than the battery warning light on the dashboard. Unlike the lead acid construction of typical car batteries, Ohm uses a combination of lithium iron phosphate batteries and supercapacitors. It's the supercapacitors that deliver the quick burst of electricity for starting. The LiFePO4 batteries, in turn, keep the supercapacitors charged when the engine is off, so they're ready to go when you twist the key or punch the ignition button. Ohm says that the LiFePO4/supercapacitor configuration gives the battery a seven-year lifespan, which is around double that of the average lead acid battery. It also makes claims of better performance in cold weather. Assuming it doesn't gain any bulk before production, the Ohm is also a lot lighter than a lead acid battery. The estimated 6-lb (2.7-kg) weight looks light right off the bat, but when you compare it to the ~35 pounds (15.9 kg) a group size 35 lead acid battery weighs, it's downright feathery. That loss not only cuts down your vehicle's weight, it makes the Ohm easier to handle during replacement. While lighter internally, the Ohm's body is sized to slide into existing cars' battery wells and connect just like a lead acid car battery. The unit comes in two sizes – one designed to fit neatly in cars that accept group size 35 batteries and one designed for smaller battery wells. You can use the reference tool on Ohm's Indiegogo page to find out if the battery is a match for your car. Ohm designers admit one downside to their design: a small 10 Ah reserve capacity. This could be a problem if you rely on the battery to run electrical equipment and accessories with the engine off, and Ohm suggests sticking with a standard lead acid battery if that's the case. Thanks to the Ohm's self shut-off, at least you won't risk running the battery dead. The Ohm team says that it has tested its battery over thousands of miles but still has a lot of testing left to do on aspects like life cycle, temperature rating and battery management circuitry. Its numbers are not finalized, so the aforementioned seven-year lifespan, 10 Ah reserve capacity and 6-lb weight are still subject to change, as are the 500 peak cold cranking amps and -22 to 122° F (-30 to 50° C) operating range. Ohm has worked with the seed funders at Y Combinator and has turned toIndiegogo to raise the additional funding it needs to complete testing, finalize the design, purchase tooling and get production started. It is closing in on its US$50,000 goal with 23 days left to go and the lowest early bird pledge levels have sold out, but the Ohm battery is still available at $199, a $20 discount off the estimated retail price. That price is probably a lot higher than you'd spend on a lead acid battery at the local auto parts store, but if the Ohm performs as promised, it may be worth it. Source: Ohm

Will Tesla’s Gigafactory be the largest building on Earth?

 

by Michelle Kennedy Hogan, 07/15/15 Tesla is constructing a building completely powered by renewable energy that can hold enough battery power for 500,000 Tesla cars. And it’s going to be huge. It’s quite possible that calling it the Gigafactory is more literal than we initially thought. The original plans for the Gigafactory called for the building to be 10 million square feet. The building will be constructed in modules so the first completed part can be used as a pilot plant while the rest of the building is being completed. But it turns out that 10 million square feet just isn’t enough. And while Tesla has not yet confirmed their plans to go even bigger, Dean Haymore, a representative from the Story County Commission, said Tesla Motors has purchased another 1,200 acres next to the Gigafactory and is looking to purchase 350 more. Related: Take a first look at Tesla’s gigantic Gigafactory in Nevada Haymore said the factory was originally supposed to be just four modular blocks, but now it looks like seven blocks will be built — bringing the total to somewhere around 24 million square-feet of gigaawesomeness (yeah, I made that up). According to Wikipedia, that would make the Gigafactory the largest building in the world. The Tesla Factory in California is second on that list. Although the plans aren’t official, it isn’t shocking; Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, did mention the possibility of adding to the building last quarter. Via Treehugger Images via Steve Jurvetson and Tesla source : www.inhabitat.com

Graphene coating boosts battery performance

 

Jul 6, 2015 Extra charge: graphene and silicon can increase battery capacity The capacity of a lithium-ion battery can be nearly doubled by using an anode made from tiny nanoparticles of silicon wrapped in several layers of graphene. Researchers from South Korea – including electronics giant Samsung – have found that the graphene coating boosts the electrical conductivity of the particles and stops them from being damaged as their volume expands when the battery is charged. The scientists describe their work as "a meaningful step" towards the development of commercial batteries with silicon anodes. Ubiquitous in portable electronics, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries consist of two electrodes – anode and cathode – separated by an electrolyte. When the battery is being charged with electrical energy, lithium ions move from the cathode through the electrolyte to the anode, where they are absorbed into the bulk of the anode material. Expansion and contraction When the battery is discharged, lithium ions come out of the anode and return to the cathode. This makes the anode first expand and then contract, which can damage the anode over repeated charge/discharge cycles. Anodes made from graphite, though, are resistant to this damage, which is why this material has been used in commercial batteries for three decades. As portable devices become more energy-hungry, however, researchers have sought to boost the amount of energy that can be stored in lithium-ion batteries by developing anodes made from silicon. As well as being cheap and easy to work with, silicon can absorb 10 times more lithium ions per unit mass than graphite. Unfortunately, the volume of silicon expands by a factor of four when it absorbs lithium, which makes the silicon anodes prone to fracture and failure. Cracking and coating One way round this problem is to make the anode from an agglomeration of tiny spheres of silicon – each about 100 nm diameter – that are more resistant to cracking. But this approach also has its own challenges. Silicon is a semiconductor and to be an effective anode it must be coated with an electrical conductor. This coating must also remain intact as the nanospheres expand and contract. Now Mark Rümmeli and colleagues at the Institute for Basic Science in Korea, at Samsung and at the Korea Advanced Institute of Technology have devised a way to coat silicon nanoparticles with multiple layers of graphene. Graphene is a layer of carbon just one atom thick that is both a good electrical conductor and an extremely strong material. These two properties combine to make the coated nanoparticles very good conductors that are able to increase in size without damage to the coating or to the nanoparticles. An important challenge for Rümmeli and colleagues was how to coat silicon with graphene without creating a thin layer of silicon carbide between the two materials. This is because silicon carbide is an electrical insulator and also inhibits the flow of lithium ions. The team achieved silicon-carbide-free growth by heating the nanoparticles in the presence of methane and carbon dioxide. High conductivity Thanks to the graphene coating, a powder sample of nanoparticles has a conductivity that is 100 million times greater than a powder sample of uncoated particles. The team then made anodes from the coated nanoparticles and tested them in otherwise standard lithium-ion batteries. During the first charge–discharge cycle they found that the batteries held 1.8 times more energy than a battery with a conventional graphite anode. After 200 cycles, the batteries were still able to store 1.5 times more energy than a conventional device. When the team took a closer look at individual nanoparticles using an electron microscope, the researchers found that each layer of graphene did not completely encapsulate a nanoparticle. This allowed the graphene layers to slide across each other as the nanoparticle grew in size, thereby creating an expandable shell. Rümmeli told physicsworld.com that a similar sliding effect has been seen in multiwalled carbon nanotubes – rolled up sheets of graphene – which can extend telescopically. The team also believes that the sliding is offset by an inward "clamping" force that maintains the integrity of the graphene coating and reduces cracking in the nanoparticles. The incomplete layers also provide paths for the lithium ions to travel through the graphene coating to reach the anode. The research is described in Nature Communications.

New lithium ion battery is safer, tougher, and more powerful

 

The new battery is built from pumpkin-shaped molecules called cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) which are organized in a honeycomb-like structure. Credit: Image courtesy of Institute for Basic Science Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are a huge technological advancement from lead acid batteries which have existed since the late 1850's. Thanks to their low weight, high energy density and slower loss of charge when not in use, LIBs have become the preferred choice for consumer electronics. Lithium-ion cells with cobalt cathodes hold twice the energy of a nickel-based battery and four-times that of lead acid. Despite being a superior consumer battery, LIBs still have some drawbacks. Current manufacturing technology is reaching the theoretical energy density limit for LIBs and overheating leading to thermal runaway i.e. "venting with flame" is a serious concern. South Korean researchers at the Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Department of Chemistry and Division of Advanced Materials Science at Pohang University, have created a new LIB made from a porous solid which greatly improves its performance as well as reducing the risks due to overheating. Since 2002 there have been over 40 recalls in the US alone due to fire or explosion risk from LIBs used in consumer electronic devices. These types of batteries, in all of their different lithium-anode combinations, continue to be an essential part of modern consumer electronics despite their poor track record at high temperatures. The Korean team tried a totally new approach in making the batteries. According to Dr. Kimoon Kim at IBS, "we have already investigated high and highly anisotropic [directionally dependent] proton conducting behaviors in porous CB[6] for fuel cell electrolytes. It is possible for this lithium ion conduction following porous CB[6] to be safer than existing solid lithium electrolyte -based organic-molecular porous-materials utilizing the simple soaking method." Current LIB technology relies on intercalated lithium which functions well, but due to ever increasing demands from electronic devices to be lighter and more powerful, investigation of novel electrolytes is necessary in order. The new battery is built from pumpkin-shaped molecules called cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) which are organized in a honeycomb-like structure. The molecules have an incredibly thin 1D-channel, only averaging 7.5 Å [a single lithium ion is 0.76 Å, or .76 x 10-10 m] that runs through them. The physical structure of the porous CB[6] enables the lithium ions to battery to diffuse more freely than in conventional LIBs and exist without the separators found in other batteries. In tests, the porous CB[6] solid electrolytes showed impressive lithium ion conductivity. To compare this to existing battery electrolytes, the team used a measurement of the lithium transference number (tLi+) which was recorded at 0.7-0.8 compared to 0.2-0.5 of existing electrolytes. They also subjected the batteries to extreme temperatures of up to 373 K (99.85° C), well above the 80° C typical upper temperature window for exiting LIBs. In the tests, the batteries were cycled at temperatures between 298 K and 373 K ( 24.85° C and 99.85° C) for a duration of four days and after each cycle the results showed no thermal runaway and hardly any change in conductivity. Various conventional liquid electrolytes can incorporate in a porous CB[6] framework and converted to safer solid lithium electrolytes. Additionally, electrolyte usage is not limited to use only in LIBs, but a lithium air battery potentially feasible. What makes this new technique most exciting is that it is a new method of preparing a solid lithium electrolyte which starts as a liquid but no post-synthetic modification or chemical treatment is needed. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Institute for Basic Science. The original item was written by Daniel Kopperud. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Jun Heuk Park, Kyungwon Suh, Md. Rumum Rohman, Wooseup Hwang, Minyoung Yoon, Kimoon Kim. Solid lithium electrolytes based on an organic molecular porous solid. Chem. Commun., 2015; 51 (45): 9313 DOI: 10.1039/c5cc02581h

New manufacturing approach slices lithium-ion battery cost in half

 

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 11:10am David L. Chandler, MIT News Office A pilot manufacturing plant at 24M's headquarters in Cambridge has produced thousands of test batteries to demonstrate the efficiency of the new design. Image: 24MAn advanced manufacturing approach for lithium-ion batteries, developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at a spinoff company called 24M, promises to significantly slash the cost of the most widely used type of rechargeable batteries while also improving their performance and making them easier to recycle. “We’ve reinvented the process,” says Yet-Ming Chiang, the Kyocera Professor of Ceramics at MIT and a co-founder of 24M (and previously a co-founder of battery company A123). The existing process for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, he says, has hardly changed in the two decades since the technology was invented, and is inefficient, with more steps and components than are really needed. The new process is based on a concept developed five years ago by Chiang and colleagues including W. Craig Carter, the POSCO Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. In this so-called “flow battery,” the electrodes are suspensions of tiny particles carried by a liquid and pumped through various compartments of the battery. The new battery design is a hybrid between flow batteries and conventional solid ones: In this version, while the electrode material does not flow, it is composed of a similar semisolid, colloidal suspension of particles. Chiang and Carter refer to this as a “semisolid battery.” Simpler manufacturing process This approach greatly simplifies manufacturing, and also makes batteries that are flexible and resistant to damage, says Chiang, who is senior author of a paper in the Journal of Power Sources analyzing the tradeoffs involved in choosing between solid and flow-type batteries, depending on their particular applications and chemical components. This analysis demonstrates that while a flow-battery system is appropriate for battery chemistries with a low energy density (those that can only store a limited amount of energy for a given weight), for high-energy-density devices such as lithium-ion batteries, the extra complexity and components of a flow system would add unnecessary extra cost. Almost immediately after publishing the earlier research on the flow battery, Chiang says, “We realized that a better way to make use of this flowable electrode technology was to reinvent the [lithium ion] manufacturing process.” Instead of the standard method of applying liquid coatings to a roll of backing material, and then having to wait for that material to dry before it can move to the next manufacturing step, the new process keeps the electrode material in a liquid state and requires no drying stage at all. Using fewer, thicker electrodes, the system reduces the conventional battery architecture’s number of distinct layers, as well as the amount of nonfunctional material in the structure, by 80%. Having the electrode in the form of tiny suspended particles instead of consolidated slabs greatly reduces the path length for charged particles as they move through the material—a property known as “tortuosity.” A less tortuous path makes it possible to use thicker electrodes, which, in turn, simplifies production and lowers cost. Bendable and foldable In addition to streamlining manufacturing enough to cut battery costs by half, Chiang says, the new system produces a battery that is more flexible and resilient. While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress, the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent, folded or even penetrated by bullets without failing. This should improve both safety and durability, he says. The company has so far made about 10,000 batteries on its prototype assembly lines, most of which are undergoing testing by three industrial partners, including an oil company in Thailand and Japanese heavy-equipment manufacturer IHI Corp. The process has received eight patents and has 75 additional patents under review; 24M has raised $50 million in financing from venture capital firms and a U.S. Dept. of Energy grant. The company is initially focusing on grid-scale installations, used to help smooth out power loads and provide backup for renewable energy sources that produce intermittent output, such as wind and solar power. But Chiang says the technology is also well suited to applications where weight and volume are limited, such as in electric vehicles. Another advantage of this approach, Chiang says, is that factories using the method can be scaled up by simply adding identical units. With traditional lithium-ion production, plants must be built at large scale from the beginning in order to keep down unit costs, so they require much larger initial capital expenditures. By 2020, Chiang estimates that 24M will be able to produce batteries for less than $100 per kilowatt-hour of capacity. Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3-D microbattery suitable for large-scale on-chip integration

 

Tue, 05/12/2015 - 8:18am Rick Kubetz, University. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign   Image of the holographically patterned microbattery.By combining 3-D holographic lithography and 2-D photolithography, researchers from the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated a high-performance 3-D microbattery suitable for large-scale on-chip integration with microelectronic devices. "This 3-D microbattery has exceptional performance and scalability, and we think it will be of importance for many applications," explained Paul Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering at Illinois. "Micro-scale devices typically utilize power supplied off-chip because of difficulties in miniaturizing energy storage technologies. A miniaturized high-energy and high-power on-chip battery would be highly desirable for applications including autonomous microscale actuators, distributed wireless sensors and transmitters, monitors and portable and implantable medical devices." "Due to the complexity of 3-D electrodes, it is generally difficult to realize such batteries, let alone the possibility of on-chip integration and scaling. In this project, we developed an effective method to make high-performance 3-D lithium-ion microbatteries using processes that are highly compatible with the fabrication of microelectronics," stated Hailong Ning, a graduate student in the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering and first author of the article appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We utilized 3-D holographic lithography to define the interior structure of electrodes and 2-D photolithography to create the desired electrode shape." Ning added. "This work merges important concepts in fabrication, characterization and modeling, showing that the energy and power of the microbattery are strongly related to the structural parameters of the electrodes such as size, shape, surface area, porosity and tortuosity. A significant strength of this new method is that these parameters can be easily controlled during lithography steps, which offers unique flexibility for designing next-generation on-chip energy storage devices." Enabled by a 3-D holographic patterning technique—where multiple optical beams interfere inside the photoresist creating a desirable 3-D structure—the battery possesses well-defined, periodically structured porous electrodes, that facilitates the fast transports of electrons and ions inside the battery, offering supercapacitor-like power. "Although accurate control on the interfering optical beams is required to construct 3-D holographic lithography, recent advances have significantly simplified the required optics, enabling creation of structures via a single incident beam and standard photoresist processing. This makes it highly scalable and compatible with microfabrication," stated John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering, who has worked with Braun and his team to develop the technology. "Micro-engineered battery architectures, combined with high energy material such as tin, offer exciting new battery features including high energy capacity and good cycle lives, which provide the ability to power practical devices," stated William King, a professor of mechanical science and engineering, who is a co-author of this work. Source: University. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

High-performance flow battery could rival lithium-ions for EVs and grid storage

PNNL's high performance zinc-polyiodide flow battery approaches the performance of some lithium-ion batteries (Image: PNNL) A new redox flow battery designed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) more than doubles the amount of energy that this type of cell can pack in a given volume, approaching the numbers of lithium-ion batteries. If the device reaches mass production, it could find use in fast-charging transportation, portable electronics and grid storage. A flow battery is formed by two liquids with opposite charge (electrolytes) which turn chemical energy into electricity by exchanging ions through a membrane. The electrolytes are stored in two external tanks and this makes the system easy to scale up, potentially very quick to charge (the electrolytes can simply be replaced) and resistant to extreme temperatures. These perks have already inspired some radical concept car designs but if these dreams are going to come to fruition, flow batteries will need to get over one big hump: currently, the best flow cell out there only packs less than a third of the energy per unit volume as a lithium-ion battery. Because of this, flow cells are mainly used where space is not at a premium, such as to store large amounts of energy from renewable sources in open spaces. Still, even in this arena, a more energy-dense flow cell could turn out to be very useful, improving the reliability of the electric grid in a tight urban setting, and perhaps even challenging the upcoming lithium-ion home batteries announced by Tesla. PNNL researchers led by Wei Wang have now developed a prototype, high-performance zinc-polyiodide flow battery with a high energy density of 167 Wh/l (watt-hours per liter), a number that could almost double to 322 Wh/l with further optimizations. This is a significant step up from the state-of-the-art 70 Wh/l zinc-bromide flow batteries and means that, 40 years after being invented, the performance of these cells could finally catch up with that of the now ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries. For comparison, lithium iron phosphate batteries, a type of lithium-ion battery used in portable electronics and some small EVs, put out about 233 Wh per liter. Aside from being able to store more energy in a smaller space, the zinc-polyiodide battery is also reportedly safer than other flow batteries through the absence of acidic electrolytes, it’s non-flammable, and it can operate at ranges of -4 to 122 °F (-20 to 50 °C), meaning it doesn’t require extensive cooling circuitry that take up extra weight and room (like in Tesla’s Model S battery pack). Before the battery can see mass production, the researchers will need to address the issue of a zinc build-up that grew from the negative electrode and permeated through the membrane, reducing the battery’s efficiency. Wei and team contained the problem by adding alcohol to the electrolyte, and are now experimenting with scaling up the battery size in order to conduct further testing. The advance is described in an open-access Nature Communications paper. Source: PNNL

Long-lasting, water-based nuclear battery developed

 

A new nuclear-powered, water-based battery may one day be used as a dependable power supply in vehicles, spacecraft, and other applications Researchers working at the University of Missouri (MU) claim to have produced a prototype of a nuclear-powered, water-based battery that is said to be both longer-lasting and more efficient than current battery technologies and may eventually be used as a dependable power supply in vehicles, spacecraft, and other applications where longevity, reliability, and efficiency are paramount. "Betavoltaics, a battery technology that generates power from radiation, has been studied as an energy source since the 1950s," said associate professor Jae W. Kwon, of the College of Engineering at MU. "Controlled nuclear technologies are not inherently dangerous. We already have many commercial uses of nuclear technologies in our lives including fire detectors in bedrooms and emergency exit signs in buildings." Utilizing the radioactive isotope strontium-90 to enhance the electrochemical energy produced in a water-based solution, the researchers have incorporated a nanostructured titanium dioxide electrode acting as a catalyst for water decomposition. That is, the catalyst assists the breakdown of water in conjunction with the applied radiation into assorted oxygen compounds. As a result, when high-energy beta radiation passes through the platinum and the nanoporous titanium dioxide, electron-hole pairs are produced within the titanium dioxide, creating an electron flow and a resultant electric current. "Water acts as a buffer and surface plasmons created in the device turned out to be very useful in increasing its efficiency," Kwon said. "The ionic solution is not easily frozen at very low temperatures and could work in a wide variety of applications including car batteries and, if packaged properly, perhaps spacecraft." By no means the first-ever nuclear battery – the NanoTritium device from City Labs being one recent notable example – this is the first nuclear battery that has been produced to exploit the inherent advantages of radiolysis (water-splitting with radiation) to produce an electric current, at higher energy levels and lower temperatures than previously possible. And at much greater claimed efficiencies than other water-splitting energy production techniques. This is because, unlike other forms of photocatalytic methods of water-splitting to produce energy, the high-energy beta radiation in the MU device produces free radicals in water such that the kinetic energy is recombined or trapped in water molecules so that the radiation can be converted into electricity – using the platinum/titanium dioxide electrode previously described – to achieve water splitting efficiently and at room temperature. As a result, whilst solar cells use a similar mechanism for the transference of energy via hole-electron pairs, very few free radicals are produced because the photon energies are principally in the visible spectrum and subsequently at lower levels of energy. Beta radiation produced by the strontium source, on the other hand, with its ability to enhance the chemical reactions involving free radicals at greater electron energy levels, is a much more efficient way to produce extremely long-lasting and reliable energy. So much so, that the water-based nuclear battery may well offer a viable alternative to the solar cell as a sustainable, low-pollution energy source. The MU team’s research was published in the journal Nature. Source: University of Missouri

One step closer to a next-generation electric car battery

 

Mon, 01/12/2015 - 11:22am Nick Manning, Univ. of Waterloo An ultra-thin nanomaterial is at the heart of a major breakthrough by Univ. of Waterloo scientists who are in a global race to invent a cheaper, lighter and more powerful rechargeable battery for electric vehicles. Chemistry Prof. Linda Nazar and her research team in the Faculty of Science at the Univ. of Waterloo have announced a breakthrough in lithium-sulphur battery technology in Nature Communications. Their discovery of a material that maintains a rechargable sulphur cathode helps to overcome a primary hurdle to building a lithium-sulphur (Li-S) battery. Such a battery can theoretically power an electric car three times further than current lithium-ion batteries for the same weight—at much lower cost. “This is a major step forward and brings the lithim-sulphur battery one step closer to reality,” said Nazar, who also holds the Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials and was named a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters. Nazar’s group is best known for their 2009 Nature Materials paper demonstrating the feasibility of a Li-S battery using nanomaterials. In theory, sulphur can provide a competitive cathode material to lithium cobalt oxide in current lithium-ion cells. Sulphur as a battery material is extremely abundant, relatively light and very cheap. Unfortunately, the sulphur cathode exhausts itself after only a few cycles because the sulphur dissolves into the electrolyte solution as it’s reduced by incoming electrons to form polysulphides. Nazar’s group originally thought that porous carbons or graphenes could stabilize the polysulphides by physically trapping them. But in an unexpected twist, they discovered metal oxides could be the key. Their initial work on a metallic titanium oxide was published earlier in August in Nature Communications. While the researchers found since then that nanosheets of manganese dioxide (MnO2) work even better than titanium oxides, their main goal in this paper was to clarify the mechanism at work. “You have to focus on the fundamental understanding of the phenomenon before you can develop new, advanced materials,” said Nazar. They found that the oxygenated surface of the ultrathin MnO2 nanosheet chemically recycles the sulphides in a two-step process involving a surface-bound intermediate, polythiosulfate. The result is a high-performance cathode that can recharge more than 2000 cycles. The surface reaction is similar to the chemical process behind Wackenroder’s Solution discovered in 1845 during a golden age of German sulfur chemistry. “Very few researchers study or even teach sulphur chemistry anymore,” said Nazar. “It’s ironic we had to look so far back in the literature to understand something that may so radically change our future.” Source: Univ. of Waterloo

A Prototype Battery Could Double the Range of Electric Cars

 

Startup Seeo has developed batteries that store far more energy than conventional ones, which could extend the range of electric cars. By Kevin Bullis on December 23, 2014 Batteries are the costliest part of electric cars. A flat, high-energy battery cell from Seeo, in front of a battery pack that contains many cells. An experimental lithium-ion battery based on materials developed at a U.S. Department of Energy lab stores twice as much energy as the batteries used in most electric cars. If the technology can be commercialized, it could give affordable electric cars a range of over 200 miles per charge, says Hal Zarem, CEO of Seeo, a startup that’s working on the technology. Today the cheapest electric cars, which cost around $30,000, typically have a range of less than 100 miles. Alternatively, the improved storage capacity could be used to cut the size of battery packs in half while maintaining the current driving range, making electric vehicles considerably cheaper. A conventional battery pack with a range of 100 miles costs roughly $10,000. Seeo, which is based in Hayward, California, recently raised $17 million from investors, including Samsung Ventures. It plans to start shipping batteries to potential customers for evaluation next year. Seeo’s prototype is what’s known as a solid-state battery, meaning the liquid electrolyte used in conventional lithium-ion batteries is replaced with a solid one. Solid electrolytes have a number of potential advantages; the one Seeo has developed uses pure lithium, which allows it to store more energy. Other companies have developed batteries with solid electrolytes and pure lithium, but their energy storage capacity—at least for the large batteries needed in electric cars–has typically been less than what Seeo has achieved. Seeo manufactures its batteries on conventional equipment. Normally, solid electrolytes don’t conduct ions as well as liquid electrolytes. Also, pure lithium tends to form metal filaments, or dendrites, that cause short circuits. That problem is usually prevented by incorporating the lithium into another material, such as graphite. Seeo’s solid electrolyte, however, contains two polymer layers. One is soft and conducts ions; the other is hard and forms a physical barrier between the electrodes, to prevent dendrites from causing short circuits. Other companies that have developed solid-state batteries with pure lithium have been forced to make changes elsewhere in the battery that decreased storage capacity, largely as a result of the voltage limitations of solid electrolytes. Seeo has been able to avoid that problem, though it’s not giving details. Zarem says the batteries can be made using conventional equipment for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, which could help keep costs down. Some key questions remain. Seeo doesn’t yet know how many times the batteries can be recharged, for example. In an ongoing test, prototype cells have so far survived more than 100 charges, but to be practical they will need to last over 1,000 cycles. Another challenge is that existing lithium-ion batteries are quickly getting cheaper and better. By scaling up production of conventional batteries, Tesla Motors and Panasonic aim to produce electric cars that cost $35,000 and have a 200-mile range. source: MIT Technology Review

Possible avenue to better electrolyte for lithium ion batteries

 

X-ray absorption spectra, interpreted using first-principles electronic structure calculations, provide insight into the solvation of the lithium ion in propylene carbonate. The lithium-ion batteries that mobilize our electronic devices need to be improved if they are to power electric vehicles or store electrical energy for the grid. Berkeley Lab researchers looking for a better understanding of liquid electrolyte may have found a pathway forward. A team led by Richard Saykally, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division, David Prendergast, a theorist with Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, and Steven Harris, a chemist with the Lab's Materials Sciences Division, found surprising results in the first X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of a model lithium electrolyte. "A crucial process in lithium ion batteries is the transport of lithium ions between the electrodes," explains Saykally. "Commercial lithium-ion batteries contain a liquid electrolyte comprising a lithium salt dissolved in an alkyl carbonate solvent system. There's disagreement in the battery industry on the nature of the local solvation environment of lithium ions in these solutions, a critical issue because the desolvation of the ions as they move through the negative electrode is believed to limit the electrical power that can be made available." Most previous computational simulations have predicted a tetrahedral solvation structure for the lithium ion in the electrolyte, but the new study by Saykally, Prendergast, Harris and their collaborators show this to not be the case. "Our results indicate a solvation number of 4.5, which points to a non-tetrahedral solvation structure for the lithium ions," says lithium-battery expert Harris. "This contradicts numerous theoretical studies which indicated a primarily tetrahedral coordination structure with a solvation number near 2 or 3, depending on the prevalence of ion pairing. Based on our results, to design better performing electrolytes, future computational models will need to move beyond tetrahedral coordination structures." Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) make any short list of great inventions of the 20th century. Today LIBs represent a multibillion dollar industry as the power supply of cellular phones, tablets, laptops and other handheld electronic devices. However, serious shortcomings -- high costs, inadequate energy densities, long recharge times and short cycle-life times -- have hampered the use of LIBS for electric vehicles and for efficient electrical energy storage systems that can be used in conjunction with wind and solar energy sources. Although it has become increasingly clear to the battery industry that improvements in the liquid electrolyte are essential if LIBs are to be effective for electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage, most LIB research has focused on the electrodes and solid electrolyte interphase. The problem has been a lack of capabilities for the requisite experiments, particularly X-ray spectroscopy. This deficiency was addressed by Saykally and his group with their development of a unique liquid microjet technology in which two aqueous samples rapidly mix and flow through a finely tipped silica nozzle only a few micrometers in diameter. The resulting liquid beam travels a few centimeters in a vacuum chamber before it is intersected by an X-ray beam then collected and condensed out. This liquid microjet system has been set up at Beamline 8.0.1 of Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS). Beamline 8.0.1 is a high flux undulator beamline that produces X-ray beams optimized for X-ray spectroscopy. "Working at the ALS with our liquid microjet system, we used X-ray absorption spectroscopy to study lithium tetrafluoroborate in propylene carbonate," Saykally says. "X-ray absorption spectroscopy is an atom-specific core-level spectroscopic probe of unoccupied electronic states. It is highly sensitive to both the intra- and intermolecular environment of the target atom." The XAS experimental spectra were interpreted through molecular dynamics and density functional theory spectral simulations carried out on the supercomputers at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) by Prendergast and Jacob Smith, a graduate student in Saykally's research group. The ALS, the Molecular Foundry and NERSC are all DOE Office of Science national user facilities hosted at Berkeley Lab. A paper describing this research has been published in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The paper is titled "X-Ray absorption spectroscopy of LiBF4 in propylene carbonate: a model lithium ion battery electrolyte." Saykally is the corresponding author, Smith the lead author. Other co-authors in addition to Harris and Prendergast were Royce Lam, Alex Sheardy, Orion Shih, Anthony Rizzuto and Oleg Borodin. This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Jacob W. Smith, Royce K. Lam, Alex T. Sheardy, Orion Shih, Anthony M. Rizzuto, Oleg Borodin, Stephen J. Harris, David Prendergast, Richard J. Saykally. X-Ray absorption spectroscopy of LiBF4in propylene carbonate: a model lithium ion battery electrolyte. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014; 16 (43): 23568 DOI: 10.1039/c4cp03240c

5 Quick Phone Charging Hacks For When You're Short on Time

 

Being Short on Time Doesn't Mean You Have to Be Short on Battery paolomartinezphotography/Moment Open/Getty Images If keeping your smartphone charged is a challenge in everyday life, it's even worse when you're traveling. Long days in transit or out exploring a new city will make that battery icon start flashing before you know it, especially when you're relying on your phone for navigation, entertainment and more. Even worse, you've often only got limited time to get some juice in it – a short layover, coffee break in a café or quick return to the hotel room to freshen up – before you're out of reach of a charging cable for another few hours. Here are five hacks for getting more charge in your phone when you're short on time. Charge From a Wall Socket Always charge from a wall socket rather than a laptop when you're in a hurry. All else being equal, it takes longer – in some cases, an extra hour or more – to charge a smartphone over USB than from the wall. If your charger didn't come with an adapter to plug it into the wall, they're small and cost as little as $10 for a good one. Use a High-Power USB Adapter Speaking of good wall to USB adapters, be sure to use one that can put out as much power as your smartphone can handle. For example, the iPhone 6 ships with a 1 amp power adapter – but it can actually handle the 2.1amp charger from an iPad just fine, and will charge much faster if you use one. By contrast, if you use an old 0.5 amp USB adapter you've got lying around, your phone might not even charge at all. You can't damage your phone by doing this – the number on the adapter is a maximum rating, but it will only send as much power as your device actually requests. Check the specifications of the adapter you're planning to use, and get a better one if you need to. The small extra cost is well worth the substantial time saving. Charge Your Battery Pack Instead Certain portable battery packs can charge much faster than the smartphone or tablet you'll be connecting them to. The Pronto battery, for instance, boasts of being able to fully recharge an iPhone 5 after being plugged into the wall for just 5-15 minutes depending on the model. If you leave it connected for an hour, it'll have enough juice to charge that same iPhone between three and nine times! Just plug the battery into the wall while you're waiting to board or taking a shower, then slip it into your pocket and charge your phone up once you're on the move again. Put Your Phone in Flight Mode All of those useful features on your smartphone chew up battery life, but the wi-fi and (especially) cellular radios are one of the biggest power hogs of all. To make sure you get as much juice as possible into your phone in a hurry, put it in flight mode while you're charging. If you're waiting for a call or text, at least turn off mobile data and wi-fi to save a little battery. Stop Checking the Charge Level The only thing that kills your battery faster than cell data is that big, bright screen – so stop looking at it while you're charging the phone! Every little bit helps, and continually turning on the display to check the battery percentage is only going to make matters worse.

New electrolyte for construction of magnesium-sulfur batteries

 

Electron microscopy of the cathode composite. The Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) established by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is pushing research relating to batteries of the next and next-but-one generations: A research team has now developed an electrolyte that may be used for the construction of magnesium-sulfur battery cells. With magnesium, higher storage densities could be achieved than with lithium. Moreover, magnesium is abundant in nature, it is non-toxic, and does not degrade in air. The new electrolyte is now presented in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. In many electrical devices, lithium-ion and metal-hydride batteries are applied for energy storage. Scientists are also studying alternatives to these established battery systems in order to enhance the safety, cost efficiency, sustainability, and performance of future devices. It is their objective to replace lithium by other elements. For this purpose, all battery components have to be newly developed and understanding of electrochemical processes is required. Magnesium-based battery cells are presently considered an attractive option to replace lithium in batteries. In principle, magnesium allows higher storage densities to be reached than lithium. Other advantages of magnesium are its high abundance in nature, its non-toxicity, and its low degradation in air in contrast to lithium. So far, progress achieved in this area has been limited. For the design of magnesium batteries of high storage capacity and power density, suitable electrolytes are needed that can be easily to produced, that are stable, and can be used in high concentrations in different solvents. At the HIU, a research team headed by Maximilian Fichtner and Zhirong Zhao-Karger has now presented a new promising electrolyte, which might allow for the development of an entirely new generation of batteries. The new electrolyte is characterized by a number of promising properties. It possesses an unprecedented electrochemical stability window and a very high efficiency. In addition, the electrolyte can be used in various solvents and at high concentrations. Moreover, the electrolyte is chemically compatible with a sulfur cathode, which can be discharged at a voltage close to the theoretical value. Another advantage is the very simple production of the electrolyte. "Two commercially available standard chemicals, a magnesium amide and aluminium chloride, are applied. They are added to the solvent desired and subjected to stirring. This simple mixture can then be used directly as an electrolyte in the battery.," Maximilian Fichtner says. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Zhirong Zhao-Karger, Xiangyu Zhao, Di Wang, Thomas Diemant, R. Jürgen Behm, Maximilian Fichtner. Performance Improvement of Magnesium Sulfur Batteries with Modified Non-Nucleophilic Electrolytes. Advanced Energy Materials, 2014; DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201401155

Putting batteries in a kidsafe coat of armor

 

---

A Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) led team has developed a simple "coat of armor" to encase small batteries, rendering them harmless if they are ever swallowed. Children, particularly infants and young toddlers, can ingest these batteries, leading to serious damage to their esophagus as well as other gut tissue, and sometimes, death. Such incidents are on the rise, yet up until now, no solutions have been directed at the battery itself. The new work, published online November 3, 2014 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers a simple, cost-effective fix that if implemented, could dramatically reduce if not eliminate, this unfortunate problem.

"To date, there has been no innovation to address this issue with small batteries," says Jeff Karp, PhD, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Stem Cell Institute. "To address this challenge we sought to develop something that would render the battery inert, specifically when it was outside of a device."

Each year, roughly 5 billion "button" batteries are produced across the world. These small, disc-shaped batteries power everything from children's toys, hearing aids and laser pointers to remote controls and musical greeting cards. While recent legislation requires battery compartments in children's toys to be secured with screws, many items commonly used by adults contain these batteries in easily accessible formats and their packaging provides no protection. With the proliferation of such gadgets, and the demand for ever-powerful batteries to power them, the problem of accidental ingestion is increasing. In 2013, there were more than 3,000 reported cases of accidental battery ingestion -- the majority in children under age 6.

"Ingested disc batteries require emergent removal from the esophagus," says co-first study author Giovanni Traverso, MB, BCh, PhD, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a researcher at MIT. "The swallowing of these batteries is a gastrointestinal emergency given that tissue damage starts as soon as the battery is in contact with the tissue, generating an electric current and leading to a chemical burn."

Karp and his colleagues became aware of this issue in 2010, and decided to apply their collective expertise toward developing a novel solution. "This seemed like a tractable problem that we could make significant headway on in a short period of time, just based on our expertise in materials and devices," says Karp.

Karp, together with first author Bryan Laulicht, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Karp's lab, noticed that when a battery sits within a device, there is gentle pressure applied to it, yet when it is outside the device, such force does not exist.

"We set out to create a specialized coating that could switch from an insulator to a conductor when subjected to pressure," said Co-author Robert Langer, Institute Professor from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

The scientists discovered this unique substance in an unlikely place -- touch screens. Using an off-the-shelf material known as a quantum tunneling composite, they identified a nanoparticle-based coating that, when subjected to pressure, allows an electrical current to pass through. In contrast, it allows no current to run in the absence of such pressure.

They used this material to coat one side of the batteries -- covering the "minus" ends or the anodes. To determine the coating's effectiveness, they teamed up with Traverso, exposing coated and uncoated batteries to gut tissue both in a laboratory dish and in living animals. In all cases, the coated batteries caused no damage while the uncoated batteries, as expected, caused significant damage.

In addition to reducing injuries, this innovation is also likely to be quite cost-effective. "The ultimate cost will depend on the exact composition of the material that is used, but for our current formulation, we're talking cents, not dollars," says Laulicht, first author of the paper.

Now, Karp and his colleagues are working to determine the best route toward manufacturing and scaling up to a sufficiently large number of batteries, and then working with battery manufacturers to get the coated batteries into the hands of consumers.

---

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Bryan Laulicht, Giovanni Traverso, Vikram Deshpande, Robert Langer, and Jeffrey M. Karp. Simple battery armor to protect against gastrointestinal injury from accidental ingestion. PNAS, 2014 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1418423111

---

 

Pronto battery takes 5 minutes to fuel up enough to charge an iPhone

 

The Pronto promises to be able to get enough to juice to fully charge an iPhone 5 in five minutes

Image Gallery (5 images)

Portable battery packs are nothing new. We've seen some that elect to go with wireless charging like the Qimini Deuce, while some opt for wires and a large capacity. In the case of the Pronto from Power Practical it's all about speed, as the device can obtain the power for a full charge in just five minutes.

The development team is offering the device in two flavors – the Pronto 5 and Pronto 12. As you can probably guess, the 5 is smaller, coming with a 4,500 mAh battery, while the 12 includes a 13,500 mAh battery. Basically, the smaller one is enough juice to charge an iPhone 5 three times, while the larger model can deliver nine charges.

Speed is the selling point of these devices, but keep in mind ... the Pronto takes five minutes to store the power necessary for a single charge of the phone, but it will take much more than that to actually charge the phone. However, it means users won't be tied to wall outlets for an extended period, which is the main idea. Additionally, both Pronto models fully charge in about one hour, providing them with the juice needed for multiple charges.

The Pronto 5 has a single USB port, allowing users to charge one device at a time. The 12, on the other hand, has two, so it can share power with more than one device at once. It also has a 12V output, which means that it can charge devices like DSLR cameras and laptops, something you won't find in many other portable battery packs.

Power Practical is seeking funding on Kickstarter, and it's already quite close to its US$50,000 goal. Backers interested in receiving a Pronto 5 can do so for a minimum pledge of $59 while the early special lasts. From there, the price jumps to $79. For the Pronto 12, the early pre-order special is $99, and then it jumps to $119. The team expects to deliver the devices in mid-2015, assuming they reach production.

The Kickstarter pitch video below provides more information on the Pronto.

Source: Kickstarter, Power Practical

 

New "dual carbon" battery charges 20 times faster than Li-ion

 

By Dario Borghino

 

A Japanese company has announced the development and planned mass-production of a disruptive dual carbon battery that can be charged twenty times faster than an ordinary lithium-ion cell (Image: Power Japan Plus)

Japanese company Power Japan Plus has announced the development and planned mass-production of "Ryden," a disruptive carbon battery that can be charged 20 times faster than an ordinary lithium-ion cell. The battery, which is cheap to manufacture, safe, and environmentally friendly, could be ideal to improve the range and charging times of electric cars.

We've seen electric cars and motorbikes make huge strides forward in recent years. Up to a few years ago, electric vehicles were a synonym of peculiar designs, poor performance, and very low range; but now, more and more people associate them with instant torque and high performance. Further improving range, charging time, and cost would make electric vehicles an even more compelling product.

A new battery developed by Power Japan and Kyushu University promises that – and more. The researchers describe their battery as "dual carbon" since both electrodes are made out of carbon. They claim that their design not only has high energy density, but is also economical, very safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable. Most importantly, it can charge 20x faster than its Li-ion counterpart.

The battery employs carbon for both electrodes (Image: Power Japan Plus)

According to the company, their technology would allow you to charge the battery of a Nissan Leaf in 12 minutes instead of four hours. Because that battery has a capacity of 24 kWh, a back-of-the-envelope extrapolation would give us a charging time of 42 minutes for the 85 kWh battery of a top of the line Tesla Model S.

Power Japan also claims that their battery has energy density comparable to state of the art lithium-ion, with manufacturing costs that are equal or lower. This is because carbon, which is widely available in nature, is the only active ingredient, and the batteries can fit into a standard 18650 cell (the one used in laptops and electric cars), requiring no significant change to existing manufacturing lines.

Further characteristics that make it particularly suitable for electric cars are a long lifetime of 3,000 charge/discharge cycles (Li-ion's life is closer to 1,000 cycles) and the ability to discharge fully without the risk of short-circuiting and damaging the battery. Moreover, the battery doesn't heat up, so it wouldn't require the extensive cooling systems that appear in current electric cars. Thermal stability also makes the battery much safer, because it eliminates the risk of thermal runaway, which can cause explosions. And it would be more powerful than other batteries, operating at over four volts.

The company is developing its own organic carbon material for the batteries (Image: Power Japan Plus)

The battery would also be highly sustainable, as it is fully recyclable. Power Japan is planning to produce the battery using an organic carbon complex, developed in-house from organic cotton, to obtain a greater control over the size of the carbon crystals in its electrodes.

Power Japan is planning to start production of 18650 dual carbon cells later this year for specialty applications such as medical devices and satellites, and they plan to license the technology to other companies for use in electric vehicles.