Researchers have come up with many intriguing options that look promising - in the lab. He then quickly clarifies that “all of these things are prospective, hoped-for, and not necessarily realized.” Nevertheless, the possibility has many researchers scrambling to find materials and designs that can deliver on that promise. “Those features - enhanced safety and greater energy density - are probably the two most-often-touted advantages of a potential solid-state battery,” says Huang. Those changes make it possible to shrink the overall battery considerably while maintaining its energy-storage capacity, thereby achieving a higher energy density. With that solid electrolyte, they use a high-capacity positive electrode and a high-capacity, lithium metal negative electrode that’s far thinner than the usual layer of porous carbon. They replace the liquid electrolyte in the middle with a thin, solid electrolyte that’s stable at a wide range of voltages and temperatures. To solve those problems, researchers are changing key features of the lithium-ion battery to make an all-solid, or “solid-state,” version. But it’s proving difficult to make today’s lithium-ion batteries smaller and lighter while maintaining their energy density - that is, the amount of energy they store per gram of weight. Large, heavy battery packs take up space and increase a vehicle’s overall weight, reducing fuel efficiency. “Batteries are generally safe under normal usage, but the risk is still there,” says Kevin Huang PhD ’15, a research scientist in Olivetti’s group.Īnother problem is that lithium-ion batteries are not well-suited for use in vehicles. One problem with that design is that at certain voltages and temperatures, the liquid electrolyte can become volatile and catch fire. As the battery is charged and discharged, electrically charged particles (or ions) of lithium pass from one electrode to the other through the liquid electrolyte. A lithium-ion battery consists of two electrodes - one positive and one negative - sandwiched around an organic (carbon-containing) liquid. Traditional lithium-ion batteries continue to improve, but they have limitations that persist, in part because of their structure. But for mobile applications - in particular, transportation - much research is focusing on adapting today’s lithium-ion battery to make versions that are safer, smaller, and can store more energy for their size and weight.” “Obviously, developing technologies for grid-based storage at a large scale is critical. Edgerton Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. “We need all the strategies we can get to address the threat of climate change,” says Elsa Olivetti PhD ’07, the Esther and Harold E. If those trends escalate as expected, the need for better methods of storing electrical energy will intensify. The urgent need to cut carbon emissions is prompting a rapid move toward electrified mobility and expanded deployment of solar and wind on the electric grid.
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