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Batteries are About to Get Better
54 W-h/Kg max. Zinc-Bromide flow battery now has range of 34.4 to 54 Watt-Hour/Kg
250 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Ion battery as a range of 100-250 W-h/Kg. Your cellphone
now.
600 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Sulfur battery has a high range of 350 W-h/Kg
demonstrated with 500-600 theoretically possible.
2500 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Ion battery with silicon nanocomposite anodes
5000 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Air battery has a theoretical maximum of 5000 W-h/Kg
As of April 30, 2010, the government gave out the following grants:
Sion Power Corporation
(BASF, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
$5,000,000
Tucson, AZ
Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) Battery: The project seeks to develop an ultra-high energy Li-S battery that can
power electric vehicles for more than 300 miles between charges. The approach uses new manufacturing
processes and six physical barrier layers to address cycle life and safety.
The lithium sulfur battery (Li-S battery) is a rechargeable galvanic cell with a very high energy density.
By virtue of the low atomic weight of lithium and moderate weight of sulfur, Li-S batteries are relatively
light; about the density of water. They were demonstrated on the longest and highest-altitude solar-
powered airplane flight in August, 2008. Lithium Sulfur batteries may succeed lithium-ion cells because
of their higher energy density and the low cost of sulfur. There is much interest in using them for electric
vehicles.
ReVolt Technology LLC
$5,000,335
Portland, OR
Zinc Flow Air Battery: A large, high-energy zinc-air flow battery will be developed to enable long range
plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Zinc, suspended as a slurry, is stored in a tank and transported
through tubes to charge and discharge the battery.
PolyPlus Battery Company
(Corning Inc.)
$4,996,311
Berkeley, CA
Lithium-Air Battery: Rechargeable Li-Air batteries for electric vehicle applications will be developed using
protected Lithium metal cathodes. This approach has a clear path to scaling commercially, and the
batteries may rival the energy density of gasoline.
In theory, the maximum energy density is about 5,000 watt-hours per kilogram, or more than 10 times
that of today's lithium-ion batteries. Lithium metal-air batteries are also very lightweight because it's not
necessary to carry a second reactant. Lithium metal is "the holy-grail battery material," says Steven
Visco, chief technical officer and founder of PolyPlus.
IBM recently announced that it would develop lithium metal-air batteries for the energy grid and for
transportation. "Lithium ion is the gold standard, but what can beat it is lithium metal," says Paul Beach,
president of battery manufacturer Quallion of Sylmar, CA.
Using lithium metal as a battery electrode, however, has proved problematic, mainly because the material
reacts rapidly and violently with water. "People have thought about lithium-air batteries for decades, but
there's always water in the air," says Visco. Exposure to even traces of water rapidly degrades the
material.
Pellion Technologies, Inc.
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bar-Ilan University)
$3,204,080
Menlo Park, CA
Magnesium-Ion Battery: The project will develop an inexpensive, rechargeable magnesium-ion battery for
electric and hybrid-electric vehicle applications. Computational methods and accelerated chemical
synthesis will be used to develop new materials and chemistries. If successful, this project will develop the
first commercial magnesium-ion battery and establish U.S. technology leadership in a new field. See: A
new class of cathode materials for rechargeable magnesium batteries: Organosulfur compounds based
on sulfur–sulfur bonds.
Electrochemistry Communications, Volume 9, Issue 8, Pages 1913-1917
Y. NuLi, Z. Guo, H. Liu, J. Yang
Applied Materials, Inc.
(A123 Systems, Inc., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
$4,373,990
Santa Clara, CA
Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing: Low-cost, ultra-high energy lithium-ion batteries will be
developed using an innovative manufacturing process. High energy cathodes will be integrated with new
anodes and prototype manufacturing will be demonstrated that could achieve an extremely low cost. If
successful, this project will establish U.S. leadership in the manufacturing of high energy, low cost
advanced lithium-ion batteries.
IBM is working on Lithium Air batteries whose theoretical max is 5000 wH/kg as stated above. Their aim
is at least 1500 wH/kg because that is ten times the current 150 found in a 2010 Tesla car.
Next
SELF-ASSEMBLED NANOCOMPOSITES BOOST LITHIUM-ION BATTERY ANODES
By John Toon Posted March 15, 2010 Atlanta
A new high-performance anode structure based on silicon-carbon nanocomposite materials could
significantly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries used in a wide range of applications from
hybrid vehicles to portable electronics.
Produced with a "bottom-up" self-assembly technique, the new structure takes advantage of
nanotechnology to fine-tune its materials properties, addressing the shortcomings of earlier silicon-based
battery anodes. The simple, low-cost fabrication technique was designed to be easily scaled up and
compatible with existing battery manufacturing.
Details of the new self-assembly approach were published online in the journal Nature Materials on
March 14, 2010.
"Development of a novel approach to producing hierarchical anode or cathode particles with controlled
properties opens the door to many new directions for lithium-ion battery technology," said Gleb Yushin,
an assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of
Technology. "This is a significant step toward commercial production of silicon-based anode materials for
lithium-ion batteries."
The popular and lightweight batteries work by transferring lithium ions between two electrodes -- a
cathode and an anode -- through a liquid electrolyte. The more efficiently the lithium ions can enter the
two electrodes during charge and discharge cycles, the larger the battery's capacity will be.
Existing lithium-ion batteries rely on anodes made from graphite, a form of carbon. Silicon-based anodes
theoretically offer as much as a ten-fold capacity improvement over graphite, but silicon-based anodes
have so far not been stable enough for practical use.
Graphite anodes use particles ranging in size from 15 to 20 microns. If silicon particles of that size are
simply substituted for the graphite, expansion and contraction as the lithium ions enter and leave the
silicon creates cracks that quickly cause the anode to fail.
The new nanocomposite material solves that degradation problem, potentially allowing battery designers
to tap the capacity advantages of silicon. That could facilitate higher power output from a given battery
size -- or allow a smaller battery to produce a required amount of power.
"At the nanoscale, we can tune materials properties with much better precision than we can at traditional
size scales," said Yushin. "This is an example of where having nanoscale fabrication techniques leads to
better materials."
Electrical measurements of the new composite anodes in small coin cells showed they had a capacity
more than five times greater than the theoretical capacity of graphite.
Fabrication of the composite anode begins with formation of highly conductive branching structures --
similar to the branches of a tree -- made from carbon black nanoparticles annealed in a high-
temperature tube furnace. Silicon nanospheres with diameters of less than 30 nanometers are then
formed within the carbon structures using a chemical vapor deposition process. The silicon-carbon
composite structures resemble "apples hanging on a tree."
Using graphitic carbon as an electrically-conductive binder, the silicon-carbon composites are then self-
assembled into rigid spheres that have open, interconnected internal pore channels. The spheres,
formed in sizes ranging from 10 to 30 microns, are used to form battery anodes. The relatively large
composite powder size -- a thousand times larger than individual silicon nanoparticles -- allows easy
powder processing for anode fabrication.
The internal channels in the silicon-carbon spheres serve two purposes. They admit liquid electrolyte to
allow rapid entry of lithium ions for quick battery charging, and they provide space to accommodate
expansion and contraction of the silicon without cracking the anode. The internal channels and
nanometer-scale particles also provide short lithium diffusion paths into the anode, boosting battery
power characteristics.
The size of the silicon particles is controlled by the duration of the chemical vapor deposition process
and the pressure applied to the deposition system. The size of the carbon nanostructure branches and
the size of the silicon spheres determine the pore size in the composite.
Production of the silicon-carbon composites could be scaled up as a continuous process amenable to
ultra high-volume powder manufacturing, Yushin said. Because the final composite spheres are relatively
large when they are fabricated into anodes, the self-assembly technique avoids the potential health risks
of handling nanoscale powders, he added.
Once fabricated, the nanocomposite anodes would be used in batteries just like conventional graphite
structures. That would allow battery manufacturers to adopt the new anode material without making
dramatic changes in production processes.
So far, the researchers have tested the new anode through more than a hundred charge-discharge
cycles. Yushin believes the material would remain stable for thousands of cycles because no degradation
mechanisms have become apparent.
"If this technology can offer a lower cost on a capacity basis, or lighter weight compared to current
techniques, this will help advance the market for lithium batteries," he said. "If we are able to produce
less expensive batteries that last for a long time, this could also facilitate the adoption of many 'green'
technologies, such as electric vehicles or solar cells."
In addition to Yushin, the paper's authors included Alexandre Magasinki, Patrick Dixon and Benjamin
Hertzberg -- all from Georgia Tech -- and Alexander Kvit from the Materials Science Center and Materials
Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jorge Ayala from Superior Graphite.
The paper also acknowledges the contributions of Alexander Alexeev at Georgia Tech and Igor Luzinov
from Clemson University.
The research was partially supported by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Chicago-based Superior Graphite and Atlanta-
based Streamline Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Next
54 W-h/Kg max. Zinc-Bromide flow battery now has range of 34.4 to 54 Watt-Hour/Kg
250 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Ion battery as a range of 100-250 W-h/Kg. Your cellphone
now.
600 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Sulfur battery has a high range of 350 W-h/Kg
demonstrated with 500-600 theoretically possible.
2500 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Ion battery with silicon nanocomposite anodes
5000 W-h/Kg max. Lithium-Air battery has a theoretical maximum of 5000 W-h/Kg
As of April 30, 2010, the government gave out the following grants:
Sion Power Corporation
(BASF, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
$5,000,000
Tucson, AZ
Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) Battery: The project seeks to develop an ultra-high energy Li-S battery that can
power electric vehicles for more than 300 miles between charges. The approach uses new manufacturing
processes and six physical barrier layers to address cycle life and safety.
The lithium sulfur battery (Li-S battery) is a rechargeable galvanic cell with a very high energy density.
By virtue of the low atomic weight of lithium and moderate weight of sulfur, Li-S batteries are relatively
light; about the density of water. They were demonstrated on the longest and highest-altitude solar-
powered airplane flight in August, 2008. Lithium Sulfur batteries may succeed lithium-ion cells because
of their higher energy density and the low cost of sulfur. There is much interest in using them for electric
vehicles.
ReVolt Technology LLC
$5,000,335
Portland, OR
Zinc Flow Air Battery: A large, high-energy zinc-air flow battery will be developed to enable long range
plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Zinc, suspended as a slurry, is stored in a tank and transported
through tubes to charge and discharge the battery.
PolyPlus Battery Company
(Corning Inc.)
$4,996,311
Berkeley, CA
Lithium-Air Battery: Rechargeable Li-Air batteries for electric vehicle applications will be developed using
protected Lithium metal cathodes. This approach has a clear path to scaling commercially, and the
batteries may rival the energy density of gasoline.
In theory, the maximum energy density is about 5,000 watt-hours per kilogram, or more than 10 times
that of today's lithium-ion batteries. Lithium metal-air batteries are also very lightweight because it's not
necessary to carry a second reactant. Lithium metal is "the holy-grail battery material," says Steven
Visco, chief technical officer and founder of PolyPlus.
IBM recently announced that it would develop lithium metal-air batteries for the energy grid and for
transportation. "Lithium ion is the gold standard, but what can beat it is lithium metal," says Paul Beach,
president of battery manufacturer Quallion of Sylmar, CA.
Using lithium metal as a battery electrode, however, has proved problematic, mainly because the material
reacts rapidly and violently with water. "People have thought about lithium-air batteries for decades, but
there's always water in the air," says Visco. Exposure to even traces of water rapidly degrades the
material.
Pellion Technologies, Inc.
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bar-Ilan University)
$3,204,080
Menlo Park, CA
Magnesium-Ion Battery: The project will develop an inexpensive, rechargeable magnesium-ion battery for
electric and hybrid-electric vehicle applications. Computational methods and accelerated chemical
synthesis will be used to develop new materials and chemistries. If successful, this project will develop the
first commercial magnesium-ion battery and establish U.S. technology leadership in a new field. See: A
new class of cathode materials for rechargeable magnesium batteries: Organosulfur compounds based
on sulfur–sulfur bonds.
Electrochemistry Communications, Volume 9, Issue 8, Pages 1913-1917
Y. NuLi, Z. Guo, H. Liu, J. Yang
Applied Materials, Inc.
(A123 Systems, Inc., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
$4,373,990
Santa Clara, CA
Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing: Low-cost, ultra-high energy lithium-ion batteries will be
developed using an innovative manufacturing process. High energy cathodes will be integrated with new
anodes and prototype manufacturing will be demonstrated that could achieve an extremely low cost. If
successful, this project will establish U.S. leadership in the manufacturing of high energy, low cost
advanced lithium-ion batteries.
IBM is working on Lithium Air batteries whose theoretical max is 5000 wH/kg as stated above. Their aim
is at least 1500 wH/kg because that is ten times the current 150 found in a 2010 Tesla car.
Next
SELF-ASSEMBLED NANOCOMPOSITES BOOST LITHIUM-ION BATTERY ANODES
By John Toon Posted March 15, 2010 Atlanta
A new high-performance anode structure based on silicon-carbon nanocomposite materials could
significantly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries used in a wide range of applications from
hybrid vehicles to portable electronics.
Produced with a "bottom-up" self-assembly technique, the new structure takes advantage of
nanotechnology to fine-tune its materials properties, addressing the shortcomings of earlier silicon-based
battery anodes. The simple, low-cost fabrication technique was designed to be easily scaled up and
compatible with existing battery manufacturing.
Details of the new self-assembly approach were published online in the journal Nature Materials on
March 14, 2010.
"Development of a novel approach to producing hierarchical anode or cathode particles with controlled
properties opens the door to many new directions for lithium-ion battery technology," said Gleb Yushin,
an assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of
Technology. "This is a significant step toward commercial production of silicon-based anode materials for
lithium-ion batteries."
The popular and lightweight batteries work by transferring lithium ions between two electrodes -- a
cathode and an anode -- through a liquid electrolyte. The more efficiently the lithium ions can enter the
two electrodes during charge and discharge cycles, the larger the battery's capacity will be.
Existing lithium-ion batteries rely on anodes made from graphite, a form of carbon. Silicon-based anodes
theoretically offer as much as a ten-fold capacity improvement over graphite, but silicon-based anodes
have so far not been stable enough for practical use.
Graphite anodes use particles ranging in size from 15 to 20 microns. If silicon particles of that size are
simply substituted for the graphite, expansion and contraction as the lithium ions enter and leave the
silicon creates cracks that quickly cause the anode to fail.
The new nanocomposite material solves that degradation problem, potentially allowing battery designers
to tap the capacity advantages of silicon. That could facilitate higher power output from a given battery
size -- or allow a smaller battery to produce a required amount of power.
"At the nanoscale, we can tune materials properties with much better precision than we can at traditional
size scales," said Yushin. "This is an example of where having nanoscale fabrication techniques leads to
better materials."
Electrical measurements of the new composite anodes in small coin cells showed they had a capacity
more than five times greater than the theoretical capacity of graphite.
Fabrication of the composite anode begins with formation of highly conductive branching structures --
similar to the branches of a tree -- made from carbon black nanoparticles annealed in a high-
temperature tube furnace. Silicon nanospheres with diameters of less than 30 nanometers are then
formed within the carbon structures using a chemical vapor deposition process. The silicon-carbon
composite structures resemble "apples hanging on a tree."
Using graphitic carbon as an electrically-conductive binder, the silicon-carbon composites are then self-
assembled into rigid spheres that have open, interconnected internal pore channels. The spheres,
formed in sizes ranging from 10 to 30 microns, are used to form battery anodes. The relatively large
composite powder size -- a thousand times larger than individual silicon nanoparticles -- allows easy
powder processing for anode fabrication.
The internal channels in the silicon-carbon spheres serve two purposes. They admit liquid electrolyte to
allow rapid entry of lithium ions for quick battery charging, and they provide space to accommodate
expansion and contraction of the silicon without cracking the anode. The internal channels and
nanometer-scale particles also provide short lithium diffusion paths into the anode, boosting battery
power characteristics.
The size of the silicon particles is controlled by the duration of the chemical vapor deposition process
and the pressure applied to the deposition system. The size of the carbon nanostructure branches and
the size of the silicon spheres determine the pore size in the composite.
Production of the silicon-carbon composites could be scaled up as a continuous process amenable to
ultra high-volume powder manufacturing, Yushin said. Because the final composite spheres are relatively
large when they are fabricated into anodes, the self-assembly technique avoids the potential health risks
of handling nanoscale powders, he added.
Once fabricated, the nanocomposite anodes would be used in batteries just like conventional graphite
structures. That would allow battery manufacturers to adopt the new anode material without making
dramatic changes in production processes.
So far, the researchers have tested the new anode through more than a hundred charge-discharge
cycles. Yushin believes the material would remain stable for thousands of cycles because no degradation
mechanisms have become apparent.
"If this technology can offer a lower cost on a capacity basis, or lighter weight compared to current
techniques, this will help advance the market for lithium batteries," he said. "If we are able to produce
less expensive batteries that last for a long time, this could also facilitate the adoption of many 'green'
technologies, such as electric vehicles or solar cells."
In addition to Yushin, the paper's authors included Alexandre Magasinki, Patrick Dixon and Benjamin
Hertzberg -- all from Georgia Tech -- and Alexander Kvit from the Materials Science Center and Materials
Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jorge Ayala from Superior Graphite.
The paper also acknowledges the contributions of Alexander Alexeev at Georgia Tech and Igor Luzinov
from Clemson University.
The research was partially supported by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Chicago-based Superior Graphite and Atlanta-
based Streamline Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Next