Self Repairing Battery Promises To Increase Lithium-iOn Charge Capacity

Lithium-ion batteries that power devices and vehicles used today could always use extra charge capacity. Now, researchers at Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have found a potential way of doing just that.

According to a new report from Forbes, the scientists have developed a self-healing battery electrode that will allow for greater charge capacity in lithium-ion batteries.

Researchers have seen silicon as a potential battery electrode material for awhile now because it's capable of holding large amounts of energy while the battery charges, which extends its life.

The problem is that silicon electrodes expand when they're charged, and contract when the electrons release. This causes them to stress and crack from the expansion until electrons can no longer be stored.

But the latest study aims to fix that problem by coating the silicon electrodes with self-healing polymer. When this polymer expands, it also cracks like the silicon. However, the broken bonds of the polymer "attract" one another, and returns back to its original shape.

By coating the silicon with this sort of material, it can expand all it wants without cracking, and the electrodes can continue storing more energy without worry.

So far, the technology appears to be working. The researchers have put the electrodes through 100 charge-discharge cycles without any issues.

However, the team said the coated electrodes need to achieve 500 cycles for smartphones and 3,000 cycles for electric vehicles, so further testing is necessary before it can be considered a sure thing.

"The ability to repair damage spontaneously, which is termed self-healing, is an important survival feature in nature because it increases the lifetime of most living creatures," said the team in their study. "This feature is highly desirable for rechargeable batteries because the lifetime of high-capacity electrodes, such as silicon anodes, is shortened by mechanical fractures generated during the cycling process."

Source: Daily Tech

BMW i3 Fully Electric Vehicle - Battery & Charging Technology

The i3 Battery

The lithium-ion high-voltage battery is positioned centrally in the Drive module of the BMW i3 and thus optimally protected against outside influences. A specially-developed heating and air conditioning system ensures as little temperature fluctuations as possible which significantly increases the service life of the high-voltage battery.

The Battery Guard supports the BMW i3 owner by monitoring the high-voltage battery of the vehicle and notifying the owner, for example, if a deviation from the planned charging procedure occurs or, for example, if the vehicle lights were left on for too long.

The high-voltage battery is guaranteed for eight years or 100,000 km.*

* for 70 % of the charging capacity.

BMW iWallbox

If you have your own parking space at home, you can easily charge the BMW i3 using the BMW i Wallbox. This charging station, which is mounted to the wall of the house or the garage, not only completes the unique design of the BMW i vehicles, it also charges the BMW i3 up to 30 % faster than the standard included charging cable – thus charging the BMW i3 to 80 % charging capacity in under 6 hours.*

The Wallbox Pure, including individual installation service is available from BMW directly. To see if your private residence is suitable for the installation of the wallbox, please check the link below. And because BMW i stands for seamless sustainability in e-mobility, you can also conclude a green energy contract from a selected BMW i Partner, if desired.

* based on 16 A current     

ChargeNow - Public Charging

BMW i has created an innovative concept that also offers optimal charging options for the BMW i3 on the go. In addition to ChargeNow – a mobility service from BMW i and the largest association of mobile charging station providers – this concept also includes semi-public parking options for long-term parkers, where the BMW i3 can be charged; for example, in parking garages.

The navigation of the BMW i3 supports you during the search for suitable charging options, which are displayed in the vehicle, on the BMW i Remote App, and in the BMW ConnectedDrive Internet portal and are taken into account by the range assistant. The use is cashless and possible using a centrally valid access card, the ChargeNow card. You are simply billed monthly for the electricity costs.

Photos and data courtesy of BMW USA

Scientists Develop The First Foldable, Stretchable Lithium-ion Battery

John Rogers, a physical chemist and materials engineer, and Yonggang Huang, a mechanical engineer, teamed up to develop something that sounds like it is straight out of a science fiction novel – a lithium-ion battery that can be stretched and folded. Because of its (pardon the pun) flexibility, this battery could be used in devices where conventional batteries just won’t work.

One example of an application for this battery that was given is rubber. An electronic device made with rubber will find difficulty in the power department due to the lack of flexibility in traditional batteries, which undermines one of the substrate’s key features. With this flexible battery, which can be stretched like the rubber, the problem is removed, enabling creative use of unconventional materials.

The battery is said to be rechargeable, and to last about eight to nine hours on a single charge, with a bonus feature of wireless charging support. The battery will continue to work whether it is in its default shape, or is twisted, stretched, or folded. The battery’s ability to stretch is astounding, with the inventors reporting that it can be pulled to 300-percent its default size and still work without any change in ability.

The battery works via a process called “ordered unraveling,” which involves wavy interconnects that form a “S” shape, with a smaller “S” within the larger one. When the battery is stretched, the wavy pattern is pulled taunt and smooth, and then the secondary S is also pulled taunt and smooth, giving the battery its stretching ability.

 

by Brittany Hillen

 

Get a more in depth look at this new foldable battery technology here.

 

 

 

Startup Seeo Creates Safer Next-Gen Lithium Battery

The unnerving capability of lithium ion batteries to catch on fire emerged as headline news last month, as Boeing was forced to ground its futuristic 787 Dreamliner FLEET after two batteries caught on fire. But the next generation of lithium ion batteries are promising to be safer, and a few of them are already starting to be used in real-world situations in the power grid, electric vehicles and gadgets.

Six-year-old startup Seeo — which is backed by Vinod Khosla, Google Ventures and others — has installed its first battery system to act as energy storage in conjunction with a solar panel system developed by SunEdison, according to Seeo CEO Hal Zarem, who I interviewed last week. The solar battery installation is a trial for now, but a sizable one: on the level of kilowatts and tens of kilowatts, explained Zarem. For comparison’s sake, the Nissan LEAF uses a 24 kilowatt hour battery, while an average cell phone will use 2,000 to 3,000 milliamp hour batteries (far smaller than a kilowatt hour of capacity).

Batteries, like the one Seeo has installed for SunEdison’s solar system, can act as storage for the energy produced by solar panels, so that when the sun goes down (or behind a cloud) the battery can then offer up the stored power. Utilities, building owners and even home owners are starting to see the benefits of having battery storage systems connected to solar systems, because power can be far more smooth and reliable. Likewise solar installer SolarCity has been working with Tesla’s batteries to sell a home battery system with its solar panels in certain markets.

THE NEXT GEN-TECH

New Battery Can Charge 120 Times Faster

The Chevy Volt

A group of Korean scientists, working at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), have developed a fast-charge lithium-ion battery that can be recharged 30 to 120 times faster than conventional li-ion batteries. The team believes it can build a battery pack for electric vehicles that can be fully charged in less than a minute.

One of the main issues with rechargeable batteries is that they take longer to recharge as their physical volume grows. When you recharge a battery, it charges from the outside in — so the larger the battery, the longer it takes. You can somewhat avoid this by breaking larger batteries into smaller individual cells, but that technique only gets you so far.

The Korean method takes the cathode material — standard lithium manganese oxide (LMO) in this case — and soaks it in a solution containing graphite. Then, by carbonizing the graphite-soaked LMO, the graphite turns into a dense network of conductive traces that run throughout the cathode. This new cathode is then packaged normally, with an electrolyte and graphite anode, to create the fast-charging li-ion battery. Other factors, such as the battery’s energy density and cycle life seem to remain unchanged.

These networks of carbonized graphite effectively act like blood vessels, allowing every part of the battery to recharge at the same time — thus speeding up recharge by 30 to 120 times.

Now, for all intents and purposes, this is a standard lithium-ion battery that could be used in smartphones and laptops — but the network of conductive traces does increase the overall size of the battery, so it’s probably better suited for use in electric vehicles (EVs). Obviously, an EV that can be recharged in under a minute is pretty crazy — though it still only brings them in-line with their gas-guzzling cousins. Being able to charge quickly is convenient, but it doesn't get around the fact that li-ion battery packs are incredibly expensive — and the Korean carbonized LMO battery certainly won’t be cheap.

I could see fast-charge batteries as being a nice option for smartphone and laptop users, though: You could have a normal battery and a fast-charge battery, and switch in whichever one makes most sense for your daily routine. Fast-charge batteries could be convenient in wireless mice and keyboards, and other gizmos, too.

Other Great Reads

• Save Big on Laptop and Phone Batteries
• Complete Guide: The Different Battery Types and Technologies
• Top 5 Laptop Battery Myths

Edited by Limewit Tech Blog
Written by Sebastian Anthony
Photos courtesy of UNIST