The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), has invented a new anode material that can charge lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in minutes. This means you will soon be able to charge your battery-based gadgets or even electric vehicles ultra-fast.
Currently, graphite and lithium titanate are among the most commonly used anode materials in the commercially available lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that power laptops, cell phones and electric vehicles. Graphite anode LIBs, which contain extremely high amounts of energy, can power an electric vehicle hundreds of kilometers in a single charging cycle. However, it has its own security challenges as they are prone to fire hazards. Lithium titanate anodes are safer and more preferred alternatives, and they also facilitate fast charging. But they have a lower energy density, which means they need to be recharged more often, the IIT says.
The new two-dimensional (2D) anode material was developed using nanosheets derived from Titanium Diboride (TiB2), a material resembling a multi-stacked sandwich, where metal atoms are present between layers of boron. One of the key functions enabled by nanosheet-based anode material is an edge:
– Ultra-fast charging time (fully charged in minutes)
– Long service life (10,000 cycles at high charging currents)
– The nanosheets used to make anodes have a high pore density. While the planar nature and chemistry of nanosheets provide a large surface area for holding Li ions, the pores allow better diffusion of ions
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The research teams from IITGN and JAIST wanted to develop an anode material that not only enables fast battery charging, but also facilitates long life. The team also had another important consideration that the material had to be such that it can be synthesized in a simple scalable way so that it can transform existing technology.
The research team also found that this anode had an ultra-fast charge capability with significant discharge capability at high capacity retention (up to 80 percent even after 10,000 cycles), meaning batteries made with this material have nearly the same high performance even after more than 10,000 charge cycles.
In addition, there was no degradation or corrosion of THNS due to redox reactions, porosity is also very well preserved and exhibits structural stability with very low volumetric expansion (less than 40 percent) over thousands of charge-discharge cycles.
Akash Varma, an MTech student, who is also the first author of this work, explains the high efficiency of the newly innovated battery material: “It is the presence of titanium and boron atoms arranged in a carpet-like interwoven porous structure within the nanosheets that aid in efficient charge transport and storage.”
Prof Kabeer Jasuja, Dr. Dinesh O Shah Chair Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, IITGN, says: “What makes this work particularly useful is the fact that the method to synthesize TiB2 nanosheets is inherently scalable. It only requires mixing the TiB2 particles in a aqueous solution of dilute hydrogen peroxide and allow it to recrystallize.To translate any nanomaterial into a tangible technology, scalability is the limiting factor.Our method of synthesizing these TiB2 nanosheets requires only stirring and no advanced equipment, making it very suitable for use .”
Prof Noriyoshi Matsumi, professor of materials chemistry, JAIST, sheds more light on the need for this innovation, saying: “Today, the need for fast charge-discharge technology is increasing enormously to allow for widespread commercialization of various types of electric vehicles in the future. Our findings could lead to related fields of research. to invite more researchers to work on the application of the unique 2D materials.”
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