According to a recent report by the British Science News website, Canadian scientists wrote in the journal Science published recently that they have redesigned lithium-oxygen batteries, and the new batteries can release almost all of their energy storage. The number of discharges is 150, and it is expected to provide more reliable and energy-intensive power supplies for electric vehicles and submarines in the future.
Compared with typical lithium-ion batteries, lithium-oxygen batteries have higher energy density and are made of more sustainable materials, but the main reason why they have not 'float into ordinary people's homes' is that their lifespan is not long.
The researchers explained that lithium-oxygen batteries generally form lithium peroxide and produce unwanted chemical by-products, which wastes energy. Therefore, lithium-oxygen batteries can only deliver about 80% of their energy storage to the electricity they supply. Equipment. Larry Curtis, a material chemist at Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, pointed out that these chemicals can also damage the electrolyte and cathode of the battery, so that it can be 'fighted' after charging dozens of times.
In order to create a better lithium-oxygen battery, the University of Waterloo chemist Linda Nazar and colleagues replaced the common organic electrolyte with an inorganic molten salt and replaced the standard carbon-based cathode with a metal base. In the battery, oxygen and lithium form lithium oxide, which can store 50% more energy than lithium peroxide. More importantly, lithium oxide does not produce chemical by-products, which makes the new lithium-oxygen battery almost all stored. Can be released to other devices, and more times than other lithium-oxygen batteries.
Curtis said that the new battery is expected to be used to power electric vehicles in the future, but there is still a long way to go before the actual application, 'because the new battery must be heated to at least 150 °C to work'.
Yang Shaoen, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Energy and Materials, commented that changing the electrolyte's substances or permitting lowering the operating temperature of the battery, the new lithium-oxygen battery can also be used as a compact power source for aircraft, spacecraft and submarines.
