IT Home reported on January 29 that, according to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun", Argonne National Laboratory and other institutions in the United States have greatly improved the durability of lithium-air batteries by increasing their capacity, and have achieved 1,000 times of charging and discharging, reaching practical standards.
It is reported that Argonne National Laboratory and Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States have manufactured a prototype of a lithium-air battery, also known as a "dream battery". Its theoretical capacity is about 3000 Wh per kilogram, which is 10 times the upper limit of a lithium battery of only 300 Wh.
In addition to extending the range of electric vehicles (EVs), the results will also contribute to the electrification of airplanes and trucks, which are expected to be put into service after 2030. Lithium-air batteries are expected to have more than 4 times the capacity of lithium-ion batteries, a level that will allow EVs to have a range of more than 1,000 miles (about 1,609 kilometers) on a single charge, about four times that of current standard EVs.
It is worth mentioning that a number of companies and institutions are currently researching similar products. Japan's National Research Institute for Materials and Materials (NIMS), in collaboration with companies such as SoftBank, will be able to charge and discharge more than 20 times by 2023 by combining a solid electrolyte film with a liquid electrolyte.
According to a previous report by IT House, in February last year, Japan's National Institute of Materials and Materials (NIMS), SoftBank, and Ohara (Ohara) jointly developed a technology that can suppress the deterioration of lithium-air batteries. As a result, the practicability of this "lithium-air battery", which is called the ultimate storage battery, has been greatly improved.
According to reports, the researchers protected the lithium used in the negative electrode by inserting a thin sheet made of solid electrolyte between the positive and negative electrodes, thereby extending the battery life by tripling. The team will further promote the extension of life and realize practical use as a power source for drones and other products.
Note: Lithium-air battery is a kind of battery that uses lithium as the negative electrode and oxygen in the air as the positive electrode reactant. Lithium-air batteries have a higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries because their cathode (which is dominated by porous carbon) is light and oxygen is obtained from the environment rather than being stored in the battery.