Graphene is the industrial term for a sheet of carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice pattern. It is a potent electrical and thermal energy conductor, while being ultra-lightweight, chemically inert and flexible. This sustainable, eco-friendly wonder-material has a firm footing in battery manufacture. We share news of graphene enhancing batteries in Sri Lanka in this short post.
How Sri Lanka Batteries Benefit from Graphene Enhancing
Battery makers are already using graphene to significantly improve their products. This enables them to produce high capacity versions with faster charge times. And it applies equally to lithium-ion batteries, where graphene bypasses the need to coat the electrodes with large amounts of carbon.
Website Graphene Info continues by explaining the benefits of hybridizing certain battery materials with graphene. For example, the large surface area can enhance performance at the lithium-ion cathode, allowing faster cycling and more charging repetitions.
Moreover, the website adds how lithium-ion phosphate cathodes also benefit from graphene enhancement. In this case too, this allows the batteries to become lighter weight, charge much faster, and have greater capacity than conventional ones.
Sri Lanka Start Up Increases Graphene Capacity
With all these benefits, it’s logical companies like start-up Ceylon Graphene Technologies would want to upscale their graphene production. This is a joint venture between Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (a research body backed by government) and private partners.
Their technology involves converting raw-vein graphite into graphene, as opposed to using seam-mineral amorphous graphite. Ceylon Graphene Technologies chief executive Manju Gunawardana predicts Indian battery maker Exide will be among the first customers for their product.
The Sri Lanka start-up currently has capacity for three tons of graphene a year. However, by next April this will grow to eight. Gunawardana says they will expand further to meet additional demand and is update about the future of batteries.
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