battery Paving the way for a lithium battery that uses an asphalt electrode

[captain_to_fire]

Source: Rice University via Ars Technica

nn7b05874_si_001.pdf

 

This could be the answer to crappy smartphone/laptop batteries. ?

 

Wang, T., Salvatierra, R. V., Jalilov, A. S., Tian, J., & Tour, J. S. (2017, September 27). Ultrafast Charging High Capacity Asphalt–Lithium Metal Batteries. ACS Nano. doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b05874

Quote

ABSTRACT

Li metal has been considered an outstanding candidate for anode materials in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its exceedingly high specific capacity and extremely low electrochemical potential, but addressing the problem of Li dendrite formation has remained a challenge for its practical rechargeable applications. In this work, we used a porous carbon material made from asphalt (Asp), specifically untreated gilsonite, as an inexpensive host material for Li plating. The ultrahigh surface area of >3000 m²/g (by BET, N₂) of the porous carbon ensures that Li was deposited on the surface of the Asp particles, as determined by scanning electron microscopy, to form Asp-Li. Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) were added to enhance the conductivity of the host material at high current densities, to produce Asp-GNR-Li. Asp-GNR-Li has demonstrated remarkable rate performance from 5 A/g_Li (1.3C) to 40 A/g_Li (10.4C) with Coulombic efficiencies >96%. Stable cycling was achieved for more than 500 cycles at 5 A/g_Li, and the areal capacity reached up to 9.4 mAh/cm² at a highest discharging/charging rate of 20 mA/cm² that was 10× faster than that of typical LIBs, suggesting use in ultrafast charging systems. Full batteries were also built combining the Asp-GNR-Li anodes with a sulfurized carbon cathode that possessed both high power density (1322 W/kg) and high energy density (943 Wh/kg).

 

 

The journal is unfortunately behind a paywall and I am not paying for that. But the feature article from Rice University and Ars will suffice. What the researchers did is use cheap asphalt to store the Lithium. It is the same asphalt used in the road to smooth it out and make tires last longer than driving on a rough concrete road.

 

The asphalt is heated off to remove low molecular weight hydrocarbons and the remaining solids are treated with a strong base Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) which makes it porous. Each gram of the treated asphalt has a 30,000 square meters of surface area. The porous structure and some of the oxygen within the treated material helps the surface interact with the lithium metal.

 

From Rice University:

Quote

A touch of asphalt may be the secret to high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries, according to Rice University scientists. The Rice lab of chemist James Tour developed anodes comprising porous carbon made from asphalt that showed exceptional stability after more than 500 charge-discharge cycles. A high-current density of 20 milliamps per square centimeter demonstrated the material’s promise for use in rapid charge and discharge devices that require high-power density. The finding is reported in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

 

“The capacity of these batteries is enormous, but what is equally remarkable is that we can bring them from zero charge to full charge in five minutes, rather than the typical two hours or more needed with other batteries,” Tour said. The Tour lab previously used a derivative of asphalt — specifically, untreated gilsonite, the same type used for the battery — to capture greenhouse gases from natural gas. This time, the researchers mixed asphalt with conductive graphene nanoribbons and coated the composite with lithium metal through electrochemical deposition. The lab combined the anode with a sulfurized-carbon cathode to make full batteries for testing. The batteries showed a high-power density of 1,322 watts per kilogram and high-energy density of 943 watt-hours per kilogram.

 

Testing revealed another significant benefit: The carbon mitigated the formation of lithium dendrites. These mossy deposits invade a battery’s electrolyte. If they extend far enough, they short-circuit the anode and cathode and can cause the battery to fail, catch fire or explode. But the asphalt-derived carbon prevents any dendrite formation. An earlier project by the lab found that an anode of graphene and carbon nanotubes also prevented the formation of dendrites. Tour said the new composite is simpler.

“While the capacity between the former and this new battery is similar, approaching the theoretical limit of lithium metal, the new asphalt-derived carbon can take up more lithium metal per unit area, and it is much simpler and cheaper to make,” he said. “There is no chemical vapor deposition step, no e-beam deposition step and no need to grow nanotubes from graphene, so manufacturing is greatly simplified.”

Another advantage as it turns out from this new kind of battery is that it can prevent another Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosion by mitigating the formation of dendrites which can short circuit the battery. While this safety prevention mechanism isn't new as it is found on existing technologies like graphene, asphalt is cheaper to produce. Just imagine the possibilities of smartphones and laptops having 24 hour battery life and it can be kept slim with much lower risk of exploding unlike the Note 7.

 

From Ars Technica:

Quote

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Initial tests showed that it could run through repeated charge/discharge cycles without losing much capacity—at a charge transfer efficiency of over 95 percent, in fact. It also worked at a wide variety of charge/discharge rates, from taking 10 hours to discharge to taking as little as six minutes. The team tested the same material without the graphene mixed in, finding that spines of lithium metal formed on the surface, which could short the battery out. The researchers ascribe this to charge being poorly distributed when graphene was absent, causing lithium to build up in specific locations on the battery.

 

With everything looking promising, they built a battery with it. To make the other electrode, they relied on a somewhat similar approach. Sulfur and lithium have a strong affinity, meaning pure sulfur is able to store lots of lithium ions. But pure sulfur also engages in lots of additional chemical reactions, many of which damage an electrode or the battery as a whole. To avoid this, the researchers reacted sulfur with carbon, chemically linking it to the electrode material.

 

The results were rather impressive. When all of the electrode materials were considered, the battery's energy density was nearly 950 Watt-hours per kilogram. For comparison, the batteries in a Tesla are in the neighborhood of 250 Whr/kg.

And it's not only smartphone OEMs should look out for this but car manufacturers especially electric cars. With more and more people are looking into completely getting rid of hydrocarbon-powered vehicles because of environmental concerns as well as the growing sales of electric cars, the likes of Tesla, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, etc should look into technologies like this which increases battery capacity while keeping the vehicle safe from explosions. Just imagine an electric car that can travel 500 miles/805 kilometers on a single charge and it is charging very fast. Well, just like anything else, the first opposition I can see are coming from oil companies but with the byproducts of oil refineries like asphalt are being used in the manufacturing of this new battery, there could be way less opposition from oil companies unlike people digging coal are protesting against renewable energy sources despite the fact that coal digging is already a dying industry.

Edited October 8, 2017 by hey_yo_

[Guest]

Still waiting for my glass based solid state batteries....

[captain_to_fire]

8 minutes ago, tjcater said:

Still waiting for my glass based solid state batteries....

Wut? Is that like based on piezoelectric generators like the Quartz crystal or a mesh of fiber optic cables? 

[Guest]

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

Wut? Is that like based on piezoelectric generators like the Quartz crystal or a mesh of fiber optic cables? 

Think glass-based electrolytes. Some sources to various studies (1, 2, 3)

[captain_to_fire]

4 minutes ago, tjcater said:

Think glass-based electrolytes. Some sources to various studies (1, 2, 3)

Looking at the PDF file, that and this one in the OP can lead to another battle of standards kinda like VHS vs Betamax or Qi vs PMA. 

[Guest]

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

Looking at the PDF file, that and this one in the OP can lead to another battle of standards kinda like VHS vs Betamax or Qi vs PMA. 

Well competition can be good, might lead to research to make one standard better than the other.

[captain_to_fire]

5 minutes ago, tjcater said:

Well competition can be good, might lead to research to make one standard better than the other.

Lithium-Ion was a big improvement over Nickel Cadmium batteries kinda like how Core 2 Duo was a very big improvement over Pentium D which is just two Pentium 4s glued together. I thinks it’s time the tech industry to come up with something far superior than the current Lithium ion batteries. 

[Doobeedoo]

Please something new on thr market already. 

[bob345]

1 hour ago, tjcater said:

Still waiting for my glass based solid state batteries....

I wouldn't get your hopes up. solid state electrolytes are far too slow for use in a traditional style battery. The high Ionic impedance or solid state electrolytes makes them unusable for most applications. 

[HalGameGuru]

This is some awesome news. But they better find a way to use wood tar or something for it or we'll never hear the end of it from the oil is evil crowd.

[Bananasplit_00]

interesting, hope we can get this going fairly quick tbh

[Coaxialgamer]

I swear we always see new battery tech promising incredible performance and density improvements, be it graphene supercapacitors, glass based batteries, hydrogen cells or whatever. 

 

But they never leave the lab. 

[Bananasplit_00]

2 minutes ago, Coaxialgamer said:

I swear we always see new battery tech promising incredible performance and density improvements, be it graphene supercapacitors, glass based batteries, hydrogen cells or whatever. 

 

But they never leave the lab. 

takese sevral years to finalize tech like this and they all either get shut down before then or find fatal problems with the tech during that reserach

[Guest]

Just now, Coaxialgamer said:

I swear we always see new battery tech promising incredible performance and density improvements, be it graphene supercapacitors, glass based batteries, hydrogen cells or whatever. 

 

But they never leave the lab. 

Time to put on our tinfoil caps while the oil industries try to keep kickin

[jagdtigger]

21 minutes ago, tjcater said:

Time to put on our tinfoil caps while the oil industries try to keep kickin

That is a possibility too you know... There were many stories that were put under the tinfoil hat category then turned out to be true .

[captain_to_fire]

3 hours ago, Coaxialgamer said:

I swear we always see new battery tech promising incredible performance and density improvements, be it graphene supercapacitors, glass based batteries, hydrogen cells or whatever. 

 

But they never leave the lab. 

There are a lot of reasons to consider why most advances in battery technology are kept within the halls of academia. One is testing and standardization can take years. Second one is conflict of interest. Just imagine having a car battery that can go 700 miles on a single charge but also tops up in just 2 hours. Me as an oil refinery will feel the pressure from that so I’ll do my best to buy some scientists to trash their thesis during peer review but the latter is not as prominent right now as it is ten years ago.

[leadeater]

6 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

Lithium-Ion was a big improvement over Nickel Cadmium batteries kinda like how Core 2 Duo was a very big improvement over Pentium D which is just two Pentium 4s glued together. I thinks it’s time the tech industry to come up with something far superior than the current Lithium ion batteries. 

There's a really good documentary on YouTube called 'Search for the Super Battery - NOVA Documentary', really interesting and is less than 12 months old so isn't out of date to current research.

 

There's a really amazing one shown that uses a plastic membrane to connect anode and cathode of a Lithium battery (or Lithium-Ion, watch to find out why difference is so amazing) that you can stab, cut and burn while the battery stays completely operational and will not catch fire, swell or anything. Damn amazing, Samsung investment anyone? lol.

 

Edit:

It's 31 minutes in to if you just want to skip straight to it.

[captain_to_fire]

4 minutes ago, leadeater said:

There's a really good documentary on YouTube called 'Search for the Super Battery - NOVA Documentary', really interesting and is less than 12 months old so isn't out of date to current research.

Found it! Thanks 

I’ll probably watch it later 

[hotsoup]

Here is the full article for you reading pleasure.

acsnano.7b05874.pdf