Research towards limitless Li-ion battery lifetime
15 June 2016
Power Electronics / Power Management
Electronics Technology
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, have invented nanowire-based battery material that can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times – a breakthrough that could lead to commercial batteries with greatly lengthened lifespans for computers, smartphones, appliances, cars and spacecraft.
Scientists have long sought to use nanowires in batteries. Thousands of times thinner than a human hair, they’re highly conductive and feature a large surface area for the storage and transfer of electrons. However, these filaments are extremely fragile and don’t hold up well to repeated discharging and recharging, or cycling. In a typical lithium-ion battery, they expand and grow brittle, which leads to cracking.
The researchers solved this problem by coating a gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell and encasing the assembly in an electrolyte made of a Plexiglas-like gel. The combination is reliable and resistant to failure. The study leader, UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai, cycled the testing electrode up to 200 000 times over three months without detecting any loss of capacity or power, and without fracturing any nanowires.
This was a marriage of hard work and serendipity, according to senior author, Reginald Penner. “Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” said Penner, chair of UCI’s chemistry department. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity. That was crazy, because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5000 or 6000 or 7000 cycles at most.”
The researchers think the goo plasticises the metal oxide in the battery and gives it flexibility, preventing cracking. “The coated electrode holds its shape much better, making it a more reliable option,” Thai said. “This research proves that a nanowire-based battery electrode can have a long lifetime and that we can make these kinds of batteries a reality.”
Further reading:
Reliable power solution
Conical Technologies
Power Electronics / Power Management
The Mibbo MLD-120W-xxVx is a robust DIN-rail mounted DC-DC converter with a 120 W output capacity specifically designed for industrial and automation applications.
Read more...
Easing the path for IPPs navigating local energy regulations
Power Electronics / Power Management
Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and developers venturing into South Africa’s renewable energy sector face an onerous and challenging regulatory landscape characterised by uncertainty in securing grid connections and considerable development costs.
Read more...
Wide input voltage buck-boost converter
Altron Arrow
Power Electronics / Power Management
The MAX77859 from Analog Devices is a high-efficiency, high-performance buck-boost converter targeted for systems requiring a wide input voltage range of between 2,5 and 22 V.
Read more...
High-density power module for AI at the edge applications
Altron Arrow
Power Electronics / Power Management
The MCPF1412 power module from Microchip has integrated I2C and PMBus interfaces for flexible configuration and monitoring.
Read more...
Development kit for TI’s SN6507
Power Electronics / Power Management
This comprehensive solution is designed to help engineers evaluate the performance of TI’s SN6507 transformer driver for isolated power supplies.
Read more...
High-voltage IGBT
Hi-Q Electronics
Power Electronics / Power Management
Diotec Semiconductor has launched the DIW030M060 IGBT, a 600 V, 30 A device with a built-in reverse diode.
Read more...
DC converter for Hi-Rel applications
Vepac Electronics
Power Electronics / Power Management
The MFK2812S from Crane Aerospace & Electronics is a DC-DC converter with an input voltage range of 16 to 50 V and an output of 12 V at up to 2,08 A.
Read more...
Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems
Schneider Electric South Africa
Power Electronics / Power Management
In addition to grid stability, DERMS also play a role in energy trading with some countries leveraging DERMS for real-time energy trading.
Read more...
BYD introduces new energy storage solutions
Power Electronics / Power Management
BYD Energy Storage, a business division of BYD, has introduced the new BYD Battery-Box LV5.0+ at the recent Solar & Storage Live Africa in Johannesburg.
Read more...
Micro energy harvesting
Power Electronics / Power Management
Panasonic Industry and Miromico partner to show effective micro energy harvesting for industrial applications.
Read more...
printer friendly version