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Re: Aluminum could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries

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"Sam Wormley" <swormley1@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:iNadnVi6oYLoXl_InZ2dnUU7-WsAAAAA@giganews.com...
> Aluminum could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion 
> batteries
>> http://phys.org/news/2015-08-aluminum-big-boost-capacity-power.html
>
>> One big problem faced by electrodes in rechargeable batteries, as
>> they go through repeated cycles of charging and discharging, is that
>> they must expand and shrink during each cycle—sometimes doubling in
>> volume, and then shrinking back. This can lead to repeated shedding
>> and reformation of its "skin" layer that consumes lithium
>> irreversibly, degrading the battery's performance over time.
>
>> Now a team of researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University in China has
>> found a novel way around that problem: creating an electrode made of
>> nanoparticles with a solid shell, and a "yolk" inside that can change
>> size again and again without affecting the shell. The innovation
>> could drastically improve cycle life, the team says, and provide a
>> dramatic boost in the battery's capacity and power.
>
>> The new findings, which use aluminum as the key material for the
>> lithium-ion battery's negative electrode, or anode, are reported in
>> the journal Nature Communications, in a paper by MIT professor Ju Li
>> and six others. The use of nanoparticles with an aluminum yolk and a
>> titanium dioxide shell has proven to be "the high-rate champion among
>> high-capacity anodes," the team reports.
>
>> Most present lithium-ion batteries—the most widely used form of
>> rechargeable batteries—use anodes made of graphite, a form of carbon.
>> Graphite has a charge storage capacity of 0.35 ampere-hours per gram
>> (Ah/g); for many years, researchers have explored other options that
>> would provide greater energy storage for a given weight. Lithium
>> metal, for example, can store about 10 times as much energy per gram,
>> but is extremely dangerous, capable of short-circuiting or even
>> catching fire. Silicon and tin have very high capacity, but the
>> capacity drops at high charging and discharging rates.
>
>> Aluminum is a low-cost option with theoretical capacity of 2 Ah/g.
>> But aluminum and other high-capacity materials, Li says, "expand a
>> lot when they get to high capacity, when they absorb lithium. And
>> then they shrink, when releasing lithium."
>
>
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=aluminum+batteries
It's not News, Sam. It's fascinating though, once Alu batteries
do prove to have a high charge/recharge cycle number, and
hold up under extreme use condtions, etc. ....
>
The Problem is that for the nect 50 years or more, maybe
always, the energy needed to charge Batteries will come
from fossil Fuels.
>
Even if the Green dream materializes to get the needed
energy from recyclables or solar type sources you'll still
face global warming from the heat released by the use of
that stored energy...
>
... until... global dimming sets in, the Sun's out put gets
smaller, or a the partial population collapse occurs, or
another Maunder minimum sets in and the Ice man cometh
>
> -- 
>
> sci.physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated
> to the discussion of physics, news from the physics
> community, and physics-related social issues.
> 

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Aluminum could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 21:16 -0500
  Re: Aluminum could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries "hanson" <hanson@quick.net> - 2015-08-05 21:30 -0700

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