Your support makes all the difference. A battery breakthrough made by researchers in Japan could pave the way for next-generation batteries to finally enter mass production. A team from Tokyo University of Science discovered a way to build sodium-ion batteries with an equivalent performance to conventional lithium-ion batteries.
A team of researchers from Guangdong University of Technology achieved a major breakthrough in lithium-ion battery technology that could make electric vehicles and energy storage cheaper. Traditionally, lithium-ion batteries used to power EVs and renewable energy grids are made of lithium iron phosphate and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide.
A conventional lithium-ion battery consists of two electrodes – a graphite anode and a lithium metal oxide cathode – separated by a liquid or solid electrolyte that shuttles lithium ions back and forth.
It is also expected that demand for lithium-ion batteries will increase up to tenfold by 2030, according to the US Department for Energy, so manufacturers are constantly building battery plants to keep up. Lithium mining can be controversial as it can take several years to develop and has a considerable impact on the environment.
“We were looking for the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to improve lithium metal cycling life,” said study co-lead author Wenbo Zhang, a Stanford PhD student in materials science and engineering. “We discovered that by resting the battery in the discharged state, lost capacity can be recovered and cycle life increased.
In a lithium metal battery, the graphite anode is replaced with electroplated lithium metal, which enables it to store twice the energy of a lithium-ion battery in the same amount of space. The lithium metal anode also weighs less than the graphite anode, which is important for EVs.