Battery of the Future: Latest Storage Material enhances Energy Density of Lithium-ion Battery

Technology.am (Oct 30, 2009) — High-performance energy storage technologies for the automotive production or mobile phone batteries and notebooks providing long battery times; these visions of the future are being brought one step closer by scientists from Graz University of Technology.

Researchers at the Institute for Chemistry and Technology of Materials have developed a latest technique that utilizes silicon for lithium-ion batteries. Its storage space capacity is ten times more than the graphite substrate which has been used up to currently, and promises substantial improvements for users.

The latest conclusion which came to light in the “NanoPoliBat” EU project — have been lately submitted to the patent office by researchers jointly with their co-operation partner Varta Microbattery.

Modern electronic devices require additional energy and even the automotive industry is yearning after ever more powerful energy storage systems. The technological improvement of battery research has been insufficient for some time now. “A real revolution is required for the expansion of the next generation. We require latest storage equipment for lithium-ion batteries,” explains battery researcher Stefan Koller, who is known with the subject from his doctoral hypothesis. Collectively with contemporaries from science and industry, he has managed to develop such a substrate substance for electrochemical reactions at a low price.

In the recently developed procedure, researchers utilize a silicon-containing gel and apply it to the graphite substrate material. “In this manner the graphite works as a buffer, cushioning the large changes in quantity of the silicon throughout the uptake and transport of lithium ions,” explains Koller.

Silicon has a lithium-ion storage capability some ten times advanced than until now commercially used graphite. The latest material can consequently store more than double the quantity of lithium ions without changes to the battery lifetime.

This method is far cheaper than the previous ones in which silicon are separated in the gas phase. The challenge lies in the reduced storage density of materials in the counter electrode in the entire battery, something which we have been doing concentrated study on,” says Koller.

Photo credit: nDevilTV

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One Response to “Battery of the Future: Latest Storage Material enhances Energy Density of Lithium-ion Battery”

• r4 ds Says:
  06.00.07 at 6:00 am

  The capture of kinetic energy from braking or suspension puts high demands upon the storage system. Capacitors respond quickly to surges. New materials are improving the amount of energy that ultra capacitors can store and release.

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