|
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 3M's Higher-Capacity Lithium-Ion BatteriesContinued from page 1 By Kevin Bullis
3M's approach reduces the amount the anode expands by using amorphous silicon, rather than crystalline silicon, and pairing this with inert materials, helping to stabilize the system. 3M engineers have also developed better methods for depositing the materials onto the films that are later rolled up to form a cylindrical battery. They are now optimizing these methods for large-scale manufacturing. The new materials reduce but do not eliminate expansion and contraction as the ions move in and out of the anode. As a result, the researchers are developing new battery designs that can absorb the changes in size. Obrovac says that these designs, along with the new electrode and electrolyte materials, should be ready for battery manufacturers to start incorporating into their products sometime next year. Ted Miller, supervisor of advanced battery technology at Ford Motor, in Dearborn, MI, says that a move away from graphite to these kinds of anodes is, in addition to offering capacity gains, essential for coping with extremely cold conditions that they could be exposed to in vehicle applications. Under these conditions, charging a battery can cause lithium metal to build up, sometimes doing many months' worth of damage to the battery in the course of a few minutes. Moving away from graphite will prevent the reactions that lead to lithium-metal buildup, Miller says. So far, only one alloy-based anode is being used commercially: a battery from Sony called Nexelium, which uses a tin-based anode. But this technology will start to appear more often, according to MIT materials scientist Yet-Ming Chiang. "It's a very logical direction" for battery companies to go in, he says. |
Audio »
Share »
Digg this
Add to del.icio.us
Add to Reddit
Add to Facebook
Slashdot It!
Stumble It!
Add to Newsvine
Add to Connotea
Add to CiteUlike
Add to Furl
Googlize this
Add to Rojo
Add to MyWeb
Favorite
Print
E-mail
Super-Charging Lithium Batteries
01/04/2008
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
asdar on 10/25/2006 at 1:43 PM
63
My questions for all new battery/energy storage systems would be:
Energy density Change
Power density change
Recharge time Change
Cycle life change
Production Cost change
Material Cost and supply change
I think this is a great thing though and congratulations on the break through.
protn7 on 10/31/2006 at 4:40 AM
37
3800 A/kg. See the webpage at
http://vulvoxnanobio.tripod.com
N O M on 08/20/2008 at 7:33 PM
9
Unfortunately it's all lies. Farbstein is trying to defraud potential investors.
Google him, it's quite a laugh.
Adam on 11/09/2006 at 2:08 PM
1
From what I have read, Altair seems to have the best new battery technology out there.
sculptor on 06/27/2007 at 2:26 PM
8
sculptor on 06/27/2007 at 2:31 PM
8
engineering on 07/01/2007 at 9:34 PM
3
..........
The chemical reaction that occurs in lithium-ion batteries is complicated. But the basic reaction involves coupling a lithium-carbon compound (which serves as the negative electrode) with cobalt oxide (which serves as the positive electrode), according to K.M. Abraham, a lithium battery consultant and visiting chemistry research professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
Normally this reaction is controlled and safe. But if uncontrolled, the lithium can stoke a huge reaction, he said.
....If a particle -- such as a speck of metal -- breaches the protective membrane during manufacturing, the particles worm through the opening and collide with the electrode, causing the device to short-circuit.........