Tiny silicon particles could power lithium ion batteries with 10 times more capacity
University of Alberta chemists have taken a critical step toward creating a new generation of silicon-based lithium ion batteries with 10 times the charge capacity of current cells.
“We wanted to test how different sizes of silicon nanoparticles could affect fracturing inside these batteries,” said Jillian Buriak, a U of A chemist and Canada Research Chair in Nanomaterials for Energy.
Silicon shows promise for building much higher-capacity batteries because it’s abundant and can absorb much more lithium than the graphite used in current lithium ion batteries. The problem is that silicon is prone to fracturing and breaking after numerous charge-and-discharge cycles, because it expands and contracts as it absorbs and releases lithium ions.
The researchers examined silicon nanoparticles of four different sizes, evenly dispersed within highly conductive graphene aerogels, made of carbon with nanoscopic pores, to compensate for silicon’s low conductivity. They found that the smallest particles—just three billionths of a metre in diameter—showed the best long-term stability after many charging and discharging cycles.
[...] “As the particles get smaller, we found they are better able to manage the strain that occurs as the silicon ‘breathes’ upon alloying and dealloying with lithium, upon cycling,” explained Buriak.
[...] The study, “Size and Surface Effects of Silicon Nanocrystals in Graphene Aerogel Composite Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries,” was published in Chemistry of Materials.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Monday January 21 2019, @10:39AM (10 children)
Don't you *&$%&#s dare make the battery thinner/smaller just because you've got better energy density!
My phone is already too damn thin and doesn't last more than a day on a full charge. Back in myyy day I could go a week without charging. I'd like that experience again.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ewk on Monday January 21 2019, @12:04PM (8 children)
Too late... They already thought of it. :-)
From the article:
“Imagine a car having the same size battery as a Tesla that could travel 10 times farther or you charge 10 times less frequently, or the battery is 10 times lighter.”
Anyway, for an electric car I'd gladly meet hem halfway: 5 times farther travel AND 5 times lighter.
A one-stretch reach of 1000-1500 KM (at an appr. 100 km/h average speed) would be about my tipping point in considering one.
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(Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday January 21 2019, @12:07PM (2 children)
The same size but smaller. The Metric System is very strange.....
(Score: 2) by ewk on Monday January 21 2019, @12:16PM (1 child)
That's just the Canadian Metric System at work :-)
The real Metric System works fine... Imagine how much greater America could have been using that... :-D
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Monday January 21 2019, @01:34PM
You go to the Coke machine, you put in your Quarters. But, no Coke. Because you put one in that doesn't say Quarter. It says 25 cents -- it's actually less. Big ugly Moose giving you the stink eye. Same size, less money -- so sneaky -- Canada!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 21 2019, @12:20PM (4 children)
5 times farther and "5 times lighter" needs energy density improvement factor of 25, not 10.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ewk on Monday January 21 2019, @12:44PM
Good to realize someone pays attention :-)
But, yeah, 0.5 times the weight and 5 times farther would work fine too. :-D
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 21 2019, @01:10PM (1 child)
Wait for today's press release.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 21 2019, @06:17PM
Why wait? Why not release the press now? Especially if someone is caught in that press. Is this press on some sort of time lock?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Tuesday January 22 2019, @03:00AM
Actually, it requires antigravity, as five times lighter means it weighs -4 times the original. You could use it to power your flying car.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Monday January 21 2019, @12:04PM
We used to have a choice. The regular phone with the wires. The car phone. When you got out of the car, that one stayed there. Or, the portable phone. You carry it around, it's a briefcase. And it did phone calls. You had papers, too bad, better hire a guy to carry your 2nd. briefcase. If your phone had a little battery, your name was Dick Tracy. Until Cell Phone happened and it was No Phone Left Behind -- incredibly freeing! youtu.be0WUF3yjgGf4 [youtu.be0wuf3yjggf4]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 21 2019, @11:59AM (2 children)
The more energy stored will enable bigger explosions? If true, I don't want this in my smartphone.
(Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Monday January 21 2019, @12:11PM
They could do the same size of explosions. But, 10 times more of them. Or, same size, same number. From a smaller & lighter phone.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 21 2019, @06:19PM
If smaller phones can have bigger explosions, then shouldn't the TSA be taking them away?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday January 21 2019, @12:35PM (3 children)
When I can buy it, then I'll be interested.
Something tells me that if I come back to this article in 5 years time, the technology would have mysteriously dried up / been bought out / disappeared / be unheard of. Same as all the other battery tech advancements.
Until, quite literally, I can pick one up... hold it in my hand... purchase it... charge in from my house... plug it into something else I own... then it may as well not exist.
Countless dozens of this kind of technologies appear every year and yet it's still "Li-ion or Li-Po" in the shops / products / high-end electric cars.
Until someone brings it out and I can buy a "Si-ion" battery in the shops, it's all hot air, lab-works, and not-practical in real terms to actually produce them en-masse.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Monday January 21 2019, @01:26PM (1 child)
I believe you should change your expectations. This is research, so naturally the chance of it getting real is tiny. As a matter of example, consider non-volatile no-moving-parts storage 10-15 yrs ago, we were in a very similar situation. 20 approaches published each year but no real progress. Today we are at the brink of replacing classical hard disks entirely. I find these articles interesting as I better understand where the difficulties are. With batteries there is a myriad of problems it seems, actually more than there were for storage.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday January 21 2019, @09:15PM
Yes, this. Takes only one success. We had dozens of ideas for dramatically improving batteries. It's really only a matter of time before we find one that overcomes all the problems and leads to clearly better batteries.
And we've already seen big improvements. Lithium based battery tech is really not that old. Go back to the mid 1990s, before lithium and nickel metal hydride, and rechargeable was pretty much the province of those horrible NiCads.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday January 21 2019, @10:20PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 21 2019, @01:26PM
Now with EVEN MORE PLASTIC
(Score: 3, Informative) by PiMuNu on Monday January 21 2019, @02:49PM (1 child)
Just for info, the role of graphite is to absorb the lithium ions after a discharge from the lithium alloy cathode to the graphite anode. Graphite has nice planes structure which means that lithium ions slide alongside the carbon atoms, and then slide right out again during a charge without too much damage to the crystal structure of either the lithium alloy cathode or the graphite anode. This means that the batteries last many charge-discharge cycles. FTFA, it sounds like Silicon can capture more lithium ions but the structure is more fragile, which makes sense.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Monday January 21 2019, @02:53PM
I found a nice linky with pics:
https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/archive/understanding_lithium_ion [batteryuniversity.com]
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday January 21 2019, @05:36PM
The concept itself, I mean. I remember watching videos about how modern batteries work and the usage of moderators in the electrolytic matrix being a key part of the process. Maybe this is something different from that or maybe this is just looking for a new medium/moderator combination.... It's cool in any event.
This sig for rent.