A team of engineers from the University of Glasgow have developed a battery to make lithium-ion batteries more environmentally friendly.
Lithium-ion batteries area useful combination of light and compact form factor and the ability to withstand multiple charge and discharge cycles. This made them ideal for use in a wide variety of devices, including laptops, mobile phones, smartwatches, and electric vehicles.
Like many batteries, lithium-ion batteriescontain a positive electrode, often made of lithium-cobalt / manganese oxide or lithium-iron phosphate, and a negative electrode, often made of lithium metal. During charging, lithium ions flow through the electrolyte from the positive electrode to the negative electrode, where they are stored. During use, ions flow in the opposite direction, generating energy to power devices through an electrochemical reaction.
One of the physical restrictions on the numberthe energy that can be stored and released by the design of lithium-ion batteries is the thickness of their electrodes. Thicker electrodes limit the diffusion of lithium ions through the electrode, thereby limiting the specific energy of lithium-ion batteries. Increasing the thickness of the electrodes also reduces their resistance to deformation, making them more prone to cracking. As soon as the electrode breaks, the battery becomes unusable.
Developed by scientists under the leadership of the universityGlasgow aims to achieve a better balance between size and surface area of electrodes by introducing tiny nanoscale and microscale holes or pores into their design. By cutting the surface and the interior of the electrodes with pores, they can significantly increase the surface area compared to a solid electrode with the same external dimensions.
To do this, scientists used additive manufacturing technology - 3D printing. The goal is to strictly control the size and location of each pore in their electrodes.
They loaded their 3D printer with a material they developed that combines polylactic acid, lithium iron phosphate, and carbon nanotubes.
What is polylactic acid? PLA (PolyLactic Acid, Polylactide) is an aliphatic thermoplastic polymer derived from 100% renewable resources such as corn and potato starch. Through polymerization, PLA results in the formation of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA). The chemical and physical properties of these PLAs are completely identical
It is biodegradable and increases the recyclability of the battery.
Battery with 300 micron electrode and porosity70% performed best when tested with a specific capacity of 151 milliampere-hours per gram, or mAh / g, a standard measure of how much charge a battery can hold. This is about two to three times the performance of a traditional lithium-ion battery with a solid electrode of the same thickness.
The increased porosity and therefore the larger surface area of the thickest 300 micron electrode also affected the battery capacity, increasing by 158%.
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