lithium-ion battery tagged posts

Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt—a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs.

MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries).

In a new study, the researchers showed that this material, which...

It happens far too often: you plug your laptop in and walk away only to return hours or days later to find it has lost some of its charge despite sitting idle and unused.

The phenomenon—called self-discharge—has frustrated users and industry alike, and puzzled manufacturers trying to determine why lithium-ion battery cells tend to lose some of their charge over time.

A researcher at Dalhousie has identified a surprisingly common culprit that, if replaced, could address an enduring problem for the industry.

“In commercial battery cells there is tape—like Scotch tape—that holds ...

Rensselaer team finds solution to persistent problem facing potassium-metal batteries. Researchers demonstrate how they can overcome dendrites to create a metal battery that performs nearly as well as a lithium-ion battery, but relies on potassium – a much more abundant and less expensive element.

If you were to look inside a lithium-ion battery you’d typically find a cathode made of lithium cobalt oxide and an anode made of graphite. During charging and discharging, lithium ions flow back and forth between these two electrodes.

In this setup, if researchers were to simply replace lithium cobalt oxide with potassium cobalt oxide, performance would drop...

Cross-sectional schematic view showing the detailed structural characteristics of a SGC hybrid particle. Credit: UNIST

A new approach developed by a team of researchers, led by Prof. Jaephil Cho (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) could hold the key to greatly improving the performance of commercial lithium-ion batteries. Prof. Cho and his research team have developed a new type anode material that would be used in place of a conventional graphite anode, which they claim will lead to lighter and longer-lasting batteries for everything from personal devices to electric vehicles.

In the study, the research team has demonstrated the feasibility of a next-generation hybrid anode using silicon-nanolayer-embedded graphite/carbon...