Unlike flammable liquid-core Li-ion batteries, Blue Current&#;s solid-core silicon elastic composite solid-state batteries are smaller, safer, and will last the lifetime of an electric vehicle.
Rechargeable batteries have become the lifeblood of electronics, enabling the mobile revolution. Unfortunately, today&#;s rechargeable batteries incorporate flammable liquid cores. That could change soon, however by switching to rechargeable batteries that have solid cores with nothing to spill, nothing to catch on fire, nothing to potentially explode.
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The first rechargeable battery was invented in the mid-19th century, and replaced the crank handle on the front of Model Ts&#; the lead-acid battery, which is based upon a simple liquid sulfuric acid core. Because of their low cost and relatively large power-to-weight ratio, these batteries still provide the spark that starts today&#;s internal combustion engines (ICEs).
The more advanced liquid-core lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries powering everything from smartphones to electric vehicles (EVs) are more expensive than lead-acid batteries, but they are worth it because they are lighter and smaller than lead-acid batteries providing the same amount of power, making them more suitable for mobile devices. Even the flammable liquid cores that make Li-ion batteries less safe than the liquid cores of lead-acid batteries are tolerated because of their reduced size.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), an Energy Innovation Hub led by DOE&#;s Argonne National Laboratory, the Li-ion battery&#;s flammable liquid core is on its way out. Not only is it flammable, but it also creates a toxic-waste disposal problem, introducing increasingly complex manufacturing problems and making the cost of electric vehicles (EVs) almost prohibitively high.
To remedy the problem, Argonne National Labs created JCESR, which designed a new generation of batteries with non-liquid solid cores &#; in the solid &#;state&#;&#;that are smaller, have higher energy density, and yet promise to return to the safety, ease of manufacturing, and lower cost of lead-acid batteries (once they are in mass production). Solid-state batteries were heralded as the &#;holy grail of batteries&#; &#; their solid-state core is the perfect complement to solid-state electronics &#; in the Technology Outlook report by market research firm DNV (Det Norske Veritas, which means &#;the Norwegian truth&#;).
All rechargeable batteries work in approximately the same way: two metallic electrodes are separated by a charge-bearing electrolyte. Lead-acid batteries (which use lead electrodes separated by a concentrated but fire-proof liquid sulfuric-acid electrolytic core) are the safest and cheapest, albeit also the biggest in terms of size and weight. Energy is supplied when negatively charged ions travel through the liquid-core electrolyte and out the negative electrode to power an electrical device. As the battery&#;s charge depletes, its liquid sulfuric-acid electrolytic core loses concentration. Charging the battery restores the concentration of the liquid sulfuric-acid electrolytic core, and the cycle repeats.
Lithium-ion batteries work similarly and have largely replaced lead-acid batteries in devices where cost is less important than size and complexity &#; the Li-ion battery&#;s components include lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, separator membranes, and various formulations of flammable electrolytic core liquids. Li-ion liquid cores hold more charge than lead-acid formulations, thus reducing the size and weight requirements of the battery. However, all varieties of Li-ion batteries share the same hazard of explosive flammability of their liquid core, thus requiring extra materials and internal structures to protect against their toxicity during use and even after their lifetime has expired. Thus, for safety&#;s sake, to reduce costs and to further miniaturize the next generation of batteries, higher-density solid-core electrolytes are on the horizon, according to DNV.
For instance, DNV notes that Tesla, Toyota, and Samsung each have their own solid-core battery technologies under development for EVs, as well as for ships, airplanes, and for grid-level storage of electricity generated by solar, wind, and other sources of sustainable power. Beyond those, most automakers are putting their trust in third parties to develop the solid-core batteries of the future. For instance, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ducati, Ford, Hyundai, Lamborghini, Porsche, Skoda, and Volkswagen are making major investments into solid-core rechargeable battery startups Solid Power ($400-million market capitalization) and QuantumScape ($2.3-billion market capitalization).
The high stakes of proving the viability of solid-core batteries in EVs recently persuaded Koch Industries to invest $30 million into a megawatt-scale pilot factory for JCESR spin-off Blue Current. Unlike the other start-ups, Blue Current lays claim to low-toxicity solid core intellectual property (IP) that the DoE endorsed via JCESR as the safest, cheapest, and highest-density solid-core battery design to date, enabling a single battery to last the lifetime of an EV.
Many factors contribute to the cost of manufacturing rechargeable batteries with solid, rather than liquid, cores.
Their improved safety, smaller bill of materials and life-of-the-device longevity favor them, but only mass production
after adoption by a major electric vehicle maker will lead them to eventually replace the widely available Li-ion battery.
Credit: Solid versus Liquid&#;A Bottom-Up Calculation Model to Analyze the Manufacturing Cost of Future High-Energy Batteries
EVs drive investment
&#;What is happening is we are moving to EVs no matter what &#; the trends are being driven by consumer demand, government mandates, and big return-on-investment outlooks,&#; said Simon Jowitt, associate professor of economic geology at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV). &#;Right now, Li-ion batteries are the best bet, but the market is very volatile; there is only enough lithium in Nevada, for instance, to create 300 million EVs. And with demand growing rapidly, not only lithium, but graphite, nickel, and cobalt could become scarce. That&#;s why the bigger car companies are all investing in solid-state battery technologies to hedge their bets and keep pace with change.&#;
DNV extrapolates that over the next seven years, lithium-ion batteries will shrink in price from $130 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to $100/kWh, even as they grow in density from 200 kWh per kilogram to more than 300 kWh/kg, which could push low-end EV prices down from $50,000-to-$70,000 today to the $20,000-to-$30,000 range by . By that time, however, DNV speculates that solid-state batteries could be 15% to 35% cheaper than Li-ion batteries as reported by solid-state battery maker Solid Power, and 50% higher in electrical storage capacity than Li-ion as reported by Electrek, a news site whose coverage focuses on the auto industry&#;s transition &#;from fossil-fuel transport to electric transport.&#;
Jowitt pointed to increasing safety issues with Li-ion batteries as they approach their theoretical limit, &#;and not just with the batteries themselves, which are flammable, but in the recycling and storage of worn-out batteries.&#; He said the industry needs &#;a circular lithium economy to prevent our scrap yards from filling up with toxic Li-ion battery waste, but right now that recycling infrastructure is not here. Also mining lithium is difficult, dangerous, and socially unpopular &#;as in &#;not in my backyard&#;.&#;
In addition, Jowitt said, while greener lithium extraction techniques are under development, &#;The economic timing is also a problem, because the EV market is so volatile. Lithium demand for EVs is relatively low now, but if demand takes off too quickly, lithium will get expensive. On the other hand, if a lot of new lithium mines come online all at once, the price may drop too much to affordably develop greener mining techniques.&#;
Not all analysts are convinced solid-core batteries will displace liquid-core batteries; at least, not without major solid-state breakthroughs.
&#;Personally, I am not too optimistic about solid-state batteries in the near future. They have been &#;just around the corner&#; for over five years now, although they are more likely to succeed for EVs than for other applications like ships, planes, and grid storage,&#; said Henrik Helgesen, senior battery consultant to DNV. &#;Solid-state batteries, however, do have a theoretically higher energy density over liquid-core Li-ion batteries, making their cell size smaller.&#;
According to Ben Eiref, chief executive officer of Blue Current, solid-state Li-ion longevity is the most important metric, since that will allow them to last the lifetime of an EV. Safety is a major advantage too, but even solid cores could fail (albeit not as spectacularly as flammable liquid cores). &#;Our solid-state batteries are safer than liquid-core Li-ion batteries, but there is still a lot of energy stored that could be released if damaged in an auto collision. Our goal at Blue Current is to make solid-state batteries that do not fail violently, the way Li-ion batteries catch on fire or even explode.&#;
Blue Current&#;s second-generation design, claims Eiref, will achieve its desired safety metric by operating at room temperature and &#;at pressures a lot lower than other first-generation solid-state battery technologies.&#; The key, he says, is the company&#;s patented &#;silicon elastic composite&#; construction. The use of adhesives in the battery&#;s solid silicon/polymer composites insures a higher energy density than liquid cores, but without resorting to the high temperatures and pressures required by first-generation solid-state batteries. As such, Blue Current&#;s pilot line will prove (or disprove) their superiority compared to Li-ion, said Eiref.
R. Colin Johnson is a Kyoto Prize Fellow who &#;&#;has worked as a technology journalist &#;for two decades.
© Bloomberg Finance LP
Building a Better Lithium Battery
Last year I wrote about A Battery That Could Change The World, which addressed the development of a solid-state lithium battery that won't catch fire if damaged. More recently, I wrote about a different approach to the problem of fires in lithium-ion batteries, which quickly dissipates the heat released from a fire in a cell before it can spread.
Development of better batteries is critical as more electric vehicles hit the roads, and as electric utilities seek better options for storing power from intermittent renewables. In addition, lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous in our lives through any number of consumer electronics.
Three key issues that companies are working to address are safety, energy density, and cost. Safety mainly concerns the possibility that lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if damaged. The two aforementioned stories are mostly focused on that aspect of the problem.
The problem of energy density concerns the ability to store energy in a specific volume (or weight). Batteries have low energy density compared to liquid fuels. Gasoline, for example, has about 100 times the volumetric energy density of a Li-ion battery pack. However, the greater efficiency of an electric motor versus a combustion engine substantially narrows the gap for usable energy.
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Finally, batteries have historically been an expensive way to store energy. According to the Energy Information Administration, in recent years the cost to install large-scale battery storage systems was typically thousands of dollars per kilowatt (kW). In comparison, the capital costs of producing electricity by power plants can be under $1,000/kW. Importantly, lower battery storage costs would be a critical enabler for utilities seeking to incorporate higher levels of intermittent renewables into the power mix.
It isn't surprising that companies are working to solve each of these battery challenges. But the solution to one problem can create another.
Consider energy density. Lithium-metal batteries allow for much higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries by using lithium-metal electrode instead of graphite electrode. But lithium deposits called dendrites can spontaneously grow from the lithium metal electrodes whenever the battery is being charged. If these dendrites bridge the gap between the anode and cathode (the two opposite electrodes in a battery), a short circuit results. This can cause the battery to fail, which may result in a fire or explosion.
The lithium-ion battery was a solution to this problem. The dendrite problem can be resolved by replacing the lithium-metal electrode with a carbon electrode that has a layered sheet structure (i.e., graphite), which hosts discrete tiny lithium ions between the layers. However, the result is a lower lithium storage capacity than a battery utilizing a solid, continuous lithium-metal electrode.
Solving the Dendrite Problem
An ideal battery would contain solid lithium electrodes while avoiding the dendrite problem. A company called Zeta Energy, using technology licensed from a top university, believes it has created just such a solution.
I recently spoke to Zeta Energy CEO Charles Maslin, who explained that Zeta is the sixth Greek letter and corresponds to carbon, the sixth element in the periodic table. Zeta potential is also a measure of the effective electric charge on a nanoparticle surface.
In an interview I conducted with Maslin, he provided a description of the new battery along with peer-reviewed data from the 10+ years of research and testing that led to its development.
The key innovation in the Zeta battery is a hybrid anode created from graphene and carbon nanotubes. The resulting three-dimensional carbon anode approaches the theoretical maximum for storage of lithium metal &#; about 10 times the lithium storage capacity of graphite used in lithium-ion batteries.
According to published research, the hybrid anode is one of the best-known conductors of electricity, and when the battery is charged, lithium metal is deposited on the sidewalls of the carbon nanotubes and in the pores between the nanotubes. These are chemically bonded to the surface of the graphene that is in turn chemically bonded to a copper substrate. The graphene-carbon nanotube-copper connections introduce no additional electrical resistance that is typically generated at the interface when electrode materials are coated on copper in batteries. This means no heat is generated at this interface.
The combination of a dendrite-free electrode with the seamless interface enables fast charging and discharging of the Zeta battery, unlike in a graphite-based lithium-ion battery where very fast charging can cause lithium dendrites to form on top of graphite. No resistance at the interface means electrons can travel to the electrode much more rapidly. The Zeta battery can thus be charged safely within a few minutes.
More Energy, Less Cost
Despite the breakthrough, building the ideal battery requires more than perfecting the anode. A cathode that matches the high capacity anode is required to unleash the boost in energy density, but current cathodes do not have enough capacity to match the lithium metal anode.
Zeta&#;s second key innovation is a hybrid cathode created from sulfur and carbon, which has 8 times the capacity of current cathodes based on metal oxide. Thus, Zeta&#;s anode-cathode combination means a packaged lithium-sulfur battery with three times the energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries.
Further, Zeta has eliminated the use of expensive metals such as cobalt in its battery. That translates to a significant reduction in battery cost. Though others have been trying to develop sulfur-based cathode for decades, they just could not get it to cycle well, and the battery dies after just a couple of hundred cycles at most. Maslin explained that Zeta has succeeded in stabilizing the sulfur cathode and pointed to test results that show it can be cycled with minimal capacity loss over thousands of cycles.
Furthermore, the Zeta lithium-sulfur battery does not self-discharge to any appreciable extent and holds charge for a significantly long time, thus boasting a superb shelf life. A major battery performance concern is self-discharge &#; you charge the battery then store it, but when you use it later, only a fraction of the stored battery capacity is left.
Based on Zeta&#;s measurements, it is estimated that more than 90% of its battery capacity will remain after 10 years of storage at full charge, unlike regular lithium-ion batteries that will have at best 10% capacity over the same period of storage. That means the Zeta battery is ready to work after virtually any period of storage.
In summary, the Zeta battery addresses both energy density and safety. Test results published in several scientific journals including Nature Magazine show that the Zeta battery has:
Up to 3 times the energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries
Faster charge time (minutes instead of hours)
Lower battery temperature
Little degradation over charge/recharge cycles
Outstanding shelf life
Significantly lighter than lithium-ion batteries
Zero cobalt
Significantly lower cost than lithium-ion batteries
Conclusions
If their research and test results are accurate, Zeta Energy may hold the new gold standard in energy storage. The technology appears to address multiple shortcomings of current lithium-ion batteries and has done so at a lower price point. These are exactly the kinds of breakthroughs that are needed if battery storage is to be adopted widely by utilities seeking to smooth out the intermittency of renewables like wind and solar power.
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