Chinese scientists have developed a lithium battery that can be used at temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius and are expected to be used in the arctic terrain and even in outer space in the future.
Published in the latest issue of the US energy academic journals Jurong research shows that Xia Yongyao, Fudan University team developed a new battery with low freezing point, can be extremely low temperature conductive ethyl acetate as the electrolyte, and the use of two Organic compounds as the electrode, respectively, PTPAn cathode and PNTCDA anode.
Electrolyte is a chemical medium in which ions move between two electrodes, but the electrochemical reaction at the junction of the electrolyte and the electrode is difficult to sustain at low temperatures.
Unlike the electrodes used in traditional lithium batteries, the researchers said that organic compounds used in these electrodes do not rely on the 'embedding process', ie they do not need to intercalate lithium ions into the molecular matrix of the electrode and prevent the embedding process from becoming slow at low temperatures .
Xia Yongyao said: "Ethyl acetate electrolyte and organic polymer electrodes for rechargeable batteries at temperatures below minus 70 degrees Celsius under the conditions of work.
Traditional lithium batteries at minus 20 degrees Celsius performance is only 50% of its optimal level, minus 40 degrees Celsius, only the optimal level of 12% .In Russia and Canada and other arctic temperatures below minus 50 degrees Celsius; in space, the temperature or even As low as minus 157 degrees Celsius.
Xia Yongyao said that compared to the traditional lithium battery electrode material, the new battery materials are adequate, cheap and environmentally friendly, he expected the price of this material is only about one-third of the former.
However, researchers acknowledge that the main challenge in achieving product adoption is that the cell's mass per unit mass can not match that of commercial lithium batteries, and the production process needs to be optimized. However, Xia Yongyao believes it has significant potential for application.
