Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

New Scalable Method resolves materials joining in Solid-State Batteries

ORNL scientists developed a scalable, low-cost electrochemical pulse method to improve the contact between layers of materials in solid-state batteries, resolving a key challenge in energy-dense solid-state batteries. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a scalable, low-cost method to improve the joining of materials in solid-state batteries, resolving one of the big challenges in the commercial development of safe, long-lived energy storage systems.

Solid-state batteries incorporate a safer, fast-charging architecture featuring a solid-state electrolyte versus the liquid electrolytes in today’s lithium-ion batteries...

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Healable carbon fiber composite offers path to long-lasting, sustainable materials

Aniruddh Vashisth holding a sample of a healable carbon fiber composite
ME Assistant Professor Aniruddh Vashisth holds a sample of a healable carbon fiber composite material that his team is studying. Photo by Andy Freeberg / University of Washington

Because of their high strength and light weight, carbon-fiber-based composite materials are gradually replacing metals for advancing all kinds of products and applications, from airplanes to wind turbines to golf clubs. But there’s a trade-off. Once damaged or compromised, the most commonly-used carbon fiber materials are nearly impossible to repair or recycle

In a paper posted this week in the journal Carbon, a research team that includes UW mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Aniruddh Vashisth describes a new type of carbon fiber reinforced material that is as strong and light as traditionally us...

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Making Aircraft Fuel from Sunlight and Air

Research plant in Zurich: The chemical process is powered by solar energy.
Research plant in Zurich: The chemical process is powered by solar energy. ETH Zürich / Alessandro Della Bella

Scientists at ETH Zurich have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from Zurich and Potsdam describe how this novel solar reactor functions and outline a policy framework that would provide incentives to expand the production of “solar kerosene.”

Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial for making aviation and maritime transport sustainable...

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Optimum Pressure to Improve the Performance of Lithium Metal Batteries

Top row: top view and cross sections of deposited lithium at 70 kilo-Pascal or kPa (less than one atmosphere)
Bottom row: top view and cross sections of deposited lithium at 350 kPa, or 3.5 atmospheres
The higher pressure causes the lithium particles to deposit in neatly stacked columns, which increases the volume of lithium deposited and prevents porosity.

A team of materials scientists and chemists has determined the proper stack pressure that lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, need to be subjected to during battery operation in order to produce optimal performance.

The team, which includes researchers from the University of California San Diego, Michigan State University, Idaho National Laboratory and the General Motors Research and Development Center, presents their findings in the...

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