A research team from POSTECH has found a way to address safety concerns and range limitations of electric vehicle battery systems.
According to Interesting Engineering, the team, led by professor Won Bae Kim, regulated lithium-ion transport in these batteries with the help of an external magnetic field, an advancement centered around solving the problem of dendrite formation.
Dendrites are needle-like structures that form in high-capacity lithium-metal batteries during repeated charging cycles. In most cases, these dendrites eventually pierce the battery's internal separator, leading to short circuits that can cause combustion and fire.
Additionally, although the current industry standard is to use graphite anodes because they are less prone to catching fire, these anodes have built-in capacity limits. The new system, designed by the POSTECH team, bypasses these limits, resulting in stability over hundreds of cycles.
As the research team explained in a press release that was reported on by Interesting Engineering, "A new battery technology has been developed that delivers significantly higher energy storage—enough to alleviate EV range concerns—while lowering the risk of thermal runaway and explosion."
Overall, this "dream battery" system offers four times the energy storage of graphite anodes and, in testing, maintained a Coulombic efficiency (how much charge goes into the battery versus how much comes out) above 99% for more than 300 cycles.
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Whether charging at home with traditional charging or solar energy (which reduces charging costs), the POSTECH system could potentially offer significant savings, as battery charges could last longer. For EV drivers who haven't yet invested in at-home solar panels to charge their cars, TCD's Solar Explorer is an excellent tool to utilize to get started, which may save homeowners thousands on installation, increasing long-term savings even more.
As for how this battery system works, the research team forced a dense layer of lithium metal deposition onto ferromagnetic manganese ferrite conversion-type anodes, applying it via a magnetic field.
Essentially, when this lithium field is applied to the anodes, it produces specific nanoparticles that act like mini-magnets. These miniature magnets prevent lithium ions from clustering too much, thereby preventing uneven growth that can lead to hazardous dendrite formation.
Between this EV battery innovation and others like Raytron's advanced imaging to monitor EV battery fires or StoreDot's research into silicon-anode batteries that hold up to 10 times more energy, the future of EVs continues to look bright and increasingly affordable.
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As for POSTECH's battery system, Interesting Engineering reported that team leader professor Won Bae Kim explained, "It represents a new pathway toward safer and more reliable lithium-metal batteries. We expect this technology to serve as a foundation for improving capacity, cycle life, and charging speed in next-generation batteries."
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