Intelligent Rechargeable Batteries May Double Mobile Phone Battery Life
Intelligent Rechargeable Batteries May Double Mobile Phone Battery Life
According to foreign media reports, a research team from Northwestern University in the United States has developed a new material that can be used to manufacture high-capacity lithium-ion batteries with stable performance, thereby greatly extending the battery life of smartphones, electric vehicles, etc., even more than doubling the current battery life.
Lithium-ion batteries have become the representative of modern high-performance batteries and are the most widely used. They mainly work by the movement of lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes. Today, the demand for higher energy density in consumer electronics and power batteries is driving the continuous progress of positive electrode materials. Usually, people use a compound of lithium, oxygen and a transition metal as the battery positive electrode. Among them, it is the transition metal that is responsible for storing and releasing electrical energy, and its properties are also the key to battery capacity.
At this stage, the most commonly used transition metal is cobalt. Previously, scientists found that replacing cobalt with magnesium can increase capacity while reducing costs, but magnesium also has certain defects - the battery performance degrades too fast, dropping sharply after only two charge-discharge cycles.
According to the official website of Northwestern University, the new material developed by the team this time is lithium-magnesium oxide doped with chromium and vanadium. When used as the positive electrode of lithium-ion batteries, the battery capacity has been greatly improved, and it also has the advantages of stable performance and no rapid degradation.
The research team at Northwestern University first established a structural model for the lithium-magnesium oxide material. The model was detailed to individual atoms. Using this model, the team analyzed the entire charge-discharge process and found that the oxygen in it also participates in storing electrical energy, so the capacity is larger than before.
Subsequently, the researchers tried schemes of doping different elements into lithium-magnesium oxide to calculate the energy storage effect of each different mixture. Finally, they found that doping chromium and vanadium can achieve the most stable performance while maintaining a large battery capacity.
Researchers of intelligent rechargeable batteries said that their next step will be to test the practical application performance of the new material in the laboratory.
