Battery experts in South Korea have developed a lithium lifesaver that can also extend battery longevity for electric vehicles, smartphones, and other tech.
The team, including experts from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea University, and Korea Institute of Science and Technology, has developed an anode that prevents the formation of so-called dead lithium deposits during rapid charging, which is increasingly needed to power EVs and other electronics, according to a news release.
What's more, test results have shown the innovation's "practical potential," the experts wrote.
At issue are unusable lithium deposits that form on anode surfaces during rapid charging, causing degradation and performance loss. When a battery operates, ions move between the anode and cathode through an electrolyte, according to the release and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Experts from labs around the world are working to find cheaper, better materials for those crucial components, both to limit the need to mine new materials and to lower battery costs. Packs that self-dissolve, and others that amazingly include cow hair in the chemistry, are some of the inventions.
The Korean breakthrough is a hybrid anode that includes "commercially used graphite particles uniformly embedded within bent, curved nanosheets of chlorinated contorted hexabenzocoronene," according to the release.
The construction creates a staged process and more spaces for lithium ions to travel with urgency, preventing collections of "dead" ones. As part of the routine, the ions move through the nanosheets before reaching the graphite. The experts said that theoretical simulations confirmed that the anode prevents capacity loss and performs several times better than common graphite.
The pack maintained most of its efficiency during 1,000 cycles and after 2,100 cycles as part of a pouch cell, "showcasing its potential for real-world applications," per the release.
EVs and home solar can benefit from better batteries. When packaged with a rooftop array, electricity storage is a powerful tool to provide energy independence and protect against outages. Home solar can even reduce or eliminate your power bill, with average households saving about $700 annually, according to a government study.
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In South Korea, the anode experts are touting a scalable fabrication process that makes incorporating their invention into existing production infrastructure a breeze.
"Leveraging the chemical versatility of curved nanosheets opens avenues for developing … other energy storage systems," the release stated.
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