Chemical processes deep inside of batteries are the source of their destruction over time. Replacing them adds to cost of storage, and increases the price tag for renewable energy. Scientists from Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT, and University of Lyon believe this need not necessarily be the case. That’s because they are exploring the possibility of indestructible batteries.
Understanding How and Why Our Batteries Wear Out
The researchers deployed artificial intelligence to analyze microscopic images of lithium-ion phosphate batteries at atomic scale. Their eventual goal is to understand why they wear out, and then to develop proposals for more indestructible batteries.
‘Think of a battery as a ceramic coffee cup that expands and contracts when it heats up and cools off. This eventually leads to flaws in the ceramic material,’ senior researcher William Cheuh told Mining.Com. ‘Something similar happens to a rechargeable battery when you charge and discharge it and it eventually fails.’
However in the case of a battery, Cheuh is quick to explain the cause is mechanical strain, not temperature. Although he concedes ‘we don’t know much about it’ other then that, which is why their research is ongoing.
If We Did, Could We Build Indestructible Batteries?
The key is understanding the chemical and physical interaction of lithium-ion phosphate batteries at nano scale, or chemo-mechanics as Cheuh calls it. The study’s main focus includes:
1… First understanding the elasticity and deformation of materials as they charge and discharge.
2… Then, interpreting how these expand and contract in a regime where the battery is partially stable.
The researchers from Stanford, Berkeley, MIT and Lyon are moving forward to the next phase of their search for everlasting batteries. Their next step will be developing new designs at the atomic level, where electrons shuttle back and forth producing the phenomenon we call electricity.
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