Scientists have finally managed to develop a new type of battery that is believed to be able to hold five times more energy than the lithium-ion batteries found in modern cell phones, laptops and electric vehicles.
Lithium-air batteries have many advantages over lithium-ion technology. Now researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have created a prototype of a battery that operates under normal environmental conditions and still works after a record 750 charge / discharge cycles. “Our lithium air battery design represents a revolution in the battery world,” said Amin Salehi-Khojin, co-author of the article.
The principle of operation of lithium-air batteries is to react lithium in the battery with atmospheric oxygen to create lithium peroxide, which decomposes into lithium and oxygen during charging. But until now, experiments with lithium-air batteries have failed due to the occurrence of side reactions, irreversible oxidation of the electrodes. In addition, in order to increase efficiency, pure oxygen was used in the first experimental designs, which made the use of such batteries a fire and explosive case.
The new battery version is the first to operate without pure oxygen tanks. By completely redesigning each part of it, the researchers managed to ensure that the necessary reactions occur, as well as exclude or block those of them that ultimately led to the failure of the battery.
A new type of lithium-air rechargeable battery can provide great benefits for mobile phone users who are tired of not charging their inadequate batteries satisfactorily. Such batteries are also of interest to the automotive industry as companies like Tesla and Nissan are experimenting with cheaper and more powerful electric vehicles.
Lithium-air batteries can also be successfully used in the generation and storage of solar energy. Hybrid solar cells with aggregated batteries are capable of saving nearly 100 percent of energy, while solar cells that charge individual batteries lose about 20 percent of the generated energy.
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