Li-Ion Approach Boosts Efficiency and Puts Out Fires

In an entirely new approach to making lithium-ion batteries lighter, safer and more efficient, scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have reengineered one of the heaviest battery components -– sheets of copper or aluminum foil known as current collectors -– so they weigh 80% less and immediately quench any fires that flare up.

If adopted, the researchers said, this technology could address two major goals of battery research: extending the driving range of electric vehicles and reducing the danger that laptops, cell phones and other devices will burst into flames. This is especially important when batteries are charged super-fast, creating more of the types of battery damage that can lead to fires.

The research team described their work in Nature Energy.

“The current collector has always been considered dead weight, and until now it hasn’t been successfully exploited to increase battery performance,” said Yi Cui, a professor at SLAC and Stanford and investigator with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) who led the research.

“But in our study, making the collector 80% lighter increased the energy density of lithium-ion batteries – how much energy they can store in a given weight – by 16-26%. That’s a big jump compared to the average 3% increase achieved in recent years.”

Read the full piece and see the graphics at Cleantech Concepts

Source: Stanford University and Cleantech Concepts.

Tom Breunig is publisher of Cleantech Concepts, which tracks cleantech R&D. Sign up for the newsletter at Cleantech Concepts.