China cracks EV battery puzzle, paving way for cheaper, long-range lithium cells
Improvements in electrolyte wetting process will not help improve battery performance but also reduce costs of manufacturing, say researchers.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in China used advanced X-ray computed tomography to unlock the complex relationship between electrode microstructure and electrolyte wetting process. A press release said that this is expected to help improve the movement of ions in batteries and make stable and high-energy density batteries on a large scale.
As the world moves towards cleaner energy sources, there is an increased demand for energy storage solutions. With the highest energy density on offer, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been deployed across industries to meet energy storage demand. However, when deployed at large scales, these solutions are extremely expensive and inefficient.
With the increasing usage of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy storage systems, high-density energy storage solutions are the need of the hour. Research is ongoing to improve existing systems, but Tsinghua University researchers took a direct approach to studying and reconstructing the electrode in three dimensions to evaluate electrolyte wetting.
What impacts wetting behavior?
Electrolyte wetting is the ability of the battery’s electrolyte to spread out and fill up the pores inside the electrode. This is crucial for batteries since it allows much more efficient transport of ions and helps deliver stable performance.
According to the research carried out at Tsinghua University, the manufacturing process itself can significantly impact wetting behavior in batteries. This can happen due to two reasons.
One is the manufacturing process, where the calendering pressure and amount of active material reduce electrode porosity. This decreases the permeability of the electrode, thereby decreasing wetting effectiveness.
The researchers also found that two other factors led to incomplete electrode wetting. One was the partial closure of the pores due to the calendering process and the trapping of non-wetting phase gases within the electrolyte.
These insights can help battery manufacturers improve their production processes to improve electrolyte wetting. It is also expected to help make gains in the costs of making batteries, which would result in better batteries being available at a lower cost.
How can batteries be made better?
The research-led insights can help develop new avenues for battery development research and the advancement of battery technologies.
Manufacturers can explore new geometric configurations for electrodes and separators that facilitate better wetting while enhancing the structural design of the battery.
With new data made available through this research, further work in the form of new numerical models that consider the physics, mechanisms, and interactions at the electrode-electrolyte level will help improve battery performance in the future.
The researchers also point out that working to understand the vibration inputs during the immersion process will help identify how non-wetting phase gases are trapped in the electrode. Working on these areas can help improve the electrolyte infiltration volume at the electrode and the wetting process.
To reduce production costs, the researchers suggest using micro-scale data to establish macro-scale simulation models and determine accurate saturation times for the manufacturing process.
The research findings were published in the journal Green Energy and Intelligent Transportation.
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China cracks EV battery puzzle, paving way for cheaper, long-range lithium cells, source
