When the Beatles imagined a long and tortuous road, they were thinking of the path to true love. Our office dictionary defines tortuous as being like a crooked or twisted pathway obstructing our journey. We like to imagine this path as electrical ions flow between electrodes. Hence we were curious, when we discovered research into the tortuous path to better batteries.
Electrical Ions and Their Journey Through Batteries
Ions are microscopically tiny particles of atoms that carry electrical charges. They move through electrolytes between electrodes when we charge, discharge, and recharge our batteries.
Scientists call the way these ions slip into layered electrode materials at each end of their journey, intercalation. Battery performance depends on the efficiency of this process. Hence our interest in the tortuous path to better batteries.
Researchers Ziwen Yan, Li Wang, Hao Zhang, and Xiangming He published a report on May 22, 2024. Their research (see link below to the abstract and full report) suggests a model for determining, and engineering, lithium-ion battery electrodes to achieve higher performance.
Convoluted Path to Better Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium-ion battery energy density, and power density, are being pushed to extremes, the researchers say. These two efficiency factors have become critical, as the drive to renewable energy and electric transport becomes critical:
- Energy density is the amount of power in watt-hours that a battery can store, taking into account its weight .
- Power density is the amount of power in watts, that a battery can generate, taking into account its weight.
These two factors have always tended to be in a mutually-exclusive relationship, in that a battery may rate highly in one factor, but not in the other at the same time.
Researchers Yan, Wang, Zhang, and He suggest the tortuous path to better batteries lies in understanding the route that their ions follow, and smoothing it out. Their work involves reviewing past efforts by their peers, and understanding the dynamics through past lessons learned.
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