New Swedish materials hones lithium batteries – New Technology

       

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are available in everything from electric cars and planes to mobile phones and computers. But they have an Achilles heel; they may ignite and burn. That was what happened when some of Boeing aircraft did fly over several months by 2013.

The culprit is the battery’s liquid electrolyte get themselves into so-called thermal runaway, ie the temperature rises uncontrollably and sets fire to the electrolyte. Meanwhile, the electrolyte of the battery component that drives up the cost and makes the battery ages.

The solution could be a new solid material developed at the Ångström Battery Centre at Uppsala University. Here, Daniel Brandell and Jonas Mind Mark on the idea to see if the biocompatible polymer used in medicine also can be used to create polymer electrolytes (salt dissolved in a polymer) lithium batteries. The result was a superelektrolyt and a breakthrough in materials research.

– We discovered high conductivity of polymeric materials that have been used in solid electrolytes. Battery People around us have become enthused, says Daniel Brandell.

The material is a copolymer, ie a combination of polycarbonate and polyesters. Together they provide a high ion conductivity and a good mechanical stability to the electrolyte. Use of a battery opens also for designs where the electrodes are of metallic lithium. This may in turn lead to smaller, lighter batteries that are easy to adapt to different designs.

– Electric cars are probably what closest to hand. In the longer term, opens the material is also cheap and lightweight batteries with high energy content to mobiles, laptops and other types of portable electronics.

In the lab is already prototype batteries that are continuously charged and discharged. Now the researchers continue to develop the material’s conductivity another notch, while they hope for a good cooperation with some battery manufacturers.

Researchers Results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Power Sources.

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