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3M's Higher-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries

Continued from page 1

By Kevin Bullis

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

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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.

Comments

  • Hopeful direction
    It would be great if there were some standard units of measurement we could use in articles to get everything reading Apples to Apples.

    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.
    Rate this comment: 12345

    asdar
    10/25/2006
    Posts:69
    Avg Rating:
    4/5
  • Vulvox battery
    Vulvox Nano/biotechnology Corproation has a lihium ion battery on the drawing board that will store more energy per pound that fuel cells.
    3800 A/kg. See the webpage at
    http://vulvoxnanobio.tripod.com
    Rate this comment: 12345

    protn7
    10/31/2006
    Posts:69
    Avg Rating:
    2/5
    • Re: Vulvox battery
      If you believed all the wild claims of major breakthroughs by Vulvox that Neil Farbstein has made, they would be the richest, most succesful company in the world.
      Unfortunately it's all lies. Farbstein is trying to defraud potential investors.
      Google him, it's quite a laugh.
      Rate this comment: 12345

      N O M
      08/20/2008
      Posts:23
      Avg Rating:
      4/5
  • altair batteries
    Altair has a battery technology that doesn't suffer from the expansion/contraction issue, safe, charges/discharges at a high rate, and works both in a cold or hot environment. I'm really surprised they haven't been in the news more often.

    From what I have read, Altair seems to have the best new battery technology out there.
    Rate this comment: 12345

    Adam
    11/09/2006
    Posts:1
    • Re: altair batteries
      Yes, but it currently seems to have only 50% of the capacity of the typical lithium-ion battery.
      Rate this comment: 12345

      sculptor
      06/27/2007
      Posts:8
      Avg Rating:
      3/5
    • Re: altair batteries
      Yes, but it currently seems to have only 50% of the capacity of the typical lithium-ion battery.
      Rate this comment: 12345

      sculptor
      06/27/2007
      Posts:8
      Avg Rating:
      3/5
  • litihium ion batteries :disadvantages...
    Lithium-ion batteries are ideal for mobile <a href="http://www.4engr.com/product">electronics</a> because they are lightweight, extremely energy-dense, and have a unique chemistry allowing them to be recharged.
    ..........
    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.........
    Rate this comment: 12345

    engineering
    07/01/2007
    Posts:3
    Avg Rating:
    5/5

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