lithium battery tagged posts

The battery uses both oxygen and iron to store and release electrical energy. Credit: Zhenpeng Yao

By using iron and oxygen to simultaneously drive the electrochemical reaction, a novel battery is less expensive and has a higher capacity. On paper, it doesn’t seem like Christopher Wolverton’s super lithium-rich battery should work. For one, the novel battery uses iron, an inexpensive metal that has notoriously failed in batteries. And in another difficult feat, the battery leverages oxygen to help drive the chemical reaction, which researchers previously believed would cause the battery to become unstable. But not only does the battery work, it does so incredibly well.

Teaming up with researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, Wolverton’s group at Northwestern University developed a recha...

Fast kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations in interlayer-expanded titanium disulfide for magnesium rechargeable batteries. Nature Communications, August 2017 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00431- 9

Nanostructured cathode, understanding of new electrolyte lead to greater efficiency. Magnesium batteries offer promise for safely powering modern life – unlike traditional lithium ion batteries, they are not flammable or subject to exploding – but their ability to store energy has been limited. Researchers reported Aug. 24 in the journal Nature Communications the discovery of a new design for the battery cathode, drastically increasing the storage capacity and upending conventional wisdom that the magnesium-chloride bond must be broken before inserting magnesium into the host.

The work was first ...

High-voltage cell with Li metal anode and LLZCN electrolyte

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland Energy Research Center and A. James Clark School of Engineering have announced a transformative development in the race to produce batteries that are at once safe, powerful, and affordable. The researchers are developing game-changing solid-state battery technology, and have made a key advance by inserting a layer of ultra-thin aluminum oxide between lithium electrodes and a solid non-flammable ceramic electrolyte known as garnet. Prior to this advance, there had been little success in developing high-performance, garnet-based solid-state batteries, because the high resistance, between the garnet electrolyte and electrode materials limited the flow of energy or current.

The ultra...