February 8, 2025
What you need to know about solid-state batteries - DW - 09/04/2023

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How are you reading this article? Most likely with a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

What do they all have in common? Batteries.

lithium-ion rechargeable battery

Yes. Invaluable, rechargeable, lithium-based batteries that allow you to use the devices for hours or even days at a time, millions of times more computing in your pocket than when Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the surface of the Moon in July 1969 Have power.

These convenient pieces of technology – first made commercially available in 1991 by Japanese companies Sony and Asahi Kasei – completely revolutionized the world.

Lithium-ion batteries are a very efficient method of energy storage. Compared to predecessors, they have a higher energy density, which means they can store a lot of energy in a small space. They also have a longer life span and can be recharged multiple times. But even better, the next generation is under development.

Rechargeable batteries are also playing an important role in the fight against climate change by powering e-vehicles. That’s why more and more countries – among them Canada, Britain, the European Union, China and India – are planning to ban the sale of new fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. In some places, such as Norway, restrictions begin as early as 2030.

More than half of the world’s lithium reserves are believed to exist in the “lithium triangle” in the border between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Image: Martin Burnetti/AFP

And at Germany’s annual IAA car show starting Tuesday in Munich – one of the world’s biggest – electric cars and especially batteries are among the heroes.

It follows major breakthroughs in the battery world announced over the past few months by big companies and giant car makers like Samsung, Toyota, Ford and Honda.

Most of the discussion is about solid-state batteries. They promise to last longer, be smaller, charge faster, and pack more of a power punch. Some companies claim that they want to start mass production as early as 2024.

What are solid-state batteries after all?

Short answer: They’re like regular lithium batteries, but better.

They work according to similar principles, without any liquid components. Your smartphone’s battery contains a liquid component called an electrolyte, which allows lithium ions to flow freely through it. And that ultimately powers your devices.

We eagerly await your feedback.

Conventional liquid-electrolyte lithium batteries need to be large enough to power something the size of a car. They have safety issues and can swell with temperature changes, or leak when pressed too hard. The liquid inside is also flammable.

As you probably know, your phone’s battery usually doesn’t last very long. Everyone has felt the “my phone’s battery is dying” worry. Although better than their progenitors, the energy density of traditional lithium-ion batteries can be improved. They charge slowly and have a limited lifetime. This makes them less than ideal for many applications including e-vehicles as well as medical devices such as pacemakers or electric planes.

Current electric cars take an average of about 5 hours to charge at fast charging stations. At home, with household sockets, it can take over 4 times longer. Image: Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP

How are solid-state batteries better?

Solid-state batteries have a higher energy density than standard lithium-ion counterparts, which means they can store more energy in the same volume. This could translate into long-range electric vehicles or smartphones that can run for days on a single charge, as well as smaller, lighter batteries for portable devices. and who knows? Maybe they’ll even make electric flight a viable scenario one day.

Solid-state batteries can charge faster than liquid-electrolyte batteries, making them more suitable for electric vehicles and other applications where fast charging is important. No more waiting five hours to get back on the road!

Solid-state batteries are also much safer. Because they are less likely to catch fire or explode than liquid batteries, they are better suited for use in applications where safety is a concern, such as electric vehicles and drones.

At least, that’s according to theory. Making a truly commercially available solid-state battery at an affordable cost is a completely different matter.

But to understand what this means and why a commercially available solid-state battery will be a success, let’s take a quick look at the battery basics we learned in school.

How do lithium batteries work?

The basic element in a lithium-ion battery is one side with a positive electrode, one side with a negative electrode, and a separator layer in the middle that prevents any direct contact. All that is immersed in a liquid electrolyte.

The key to lithium-based batteries is that lithium atoms are very good electron donors. They actually want to get rid of the single electron on their outermost shell. The flow of these electrons is the electric current coming out of the battery.

And by the way, when a lithium atom loses that outermost electron, it becomes a positively charged ion. This is where the name ‘lithium-ion battery’ comes from.

The separator layer we mentioned earlier allows lithium ions to pass through, but not electrons. Hence it also acts as an insulator.

The negative electrode side of the battery consists of graphite which stores lithium atoms when the battery is charged. When you plug the device in, the battery starts to discharge. Lithium loses an electron to the electric current – ​​turning it into an ion – and the ion moves through the liquid electrolyte and through the separator to the positive electrode side. The positive side is usually composed of compounds that also have negative aspects and limitations. Needless to mention that there are several drawbacks to the use of liquid electrolytes.

So how do solid-state batteries work?

Solid state batteries work in the same way as traditional lithium-ion batteries, except they contain a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid through which the lithium ions flow. However, the basic principle is the same. A big plus is that they don’t have the safety issues brought on by liquid electrolyte.

On the positive side, instead of containing metal oxide electrodes as in standard liquid-electrolyte batteries, pure lithium is deposited as metal as it flows from the negative to the positive side during discharge. This saves a lot of space.

Why aren’t they in every e-device?

Well, because they are still under development, and some challenges still need to be overcome before seeing widespread use.

Cost is a major factor here. Solid-state batteries are more expensive to produce than regular lithium-ion batteries right now, because solid-state batteries use materials that are more expensive and complicated to produce.

Many of the potential advantages discussed earlier, such as longer lifespan, faster charging and higher power density, have not yet been fully transferred to commercial products.

Security is also an issue. Although solid-state batteries are considered safer than conventional batteries, there are still safety concerns, particularly short-circuits that can occur due to needle-like growths of lithium metal.

Much of the development so far in solid-state batteries has remained at the laboratory level, and it is not clear how difficult it may prove to scale them up.

However, a lot of research and development is being done in this area, and many experts believe that solid-state batteries will eventually become the standard in areas such as the electric vehicle segment.

Why is Chile planning to nationalize its lithium industry?

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Edited by: Derrick Williams

Source: www.dw.com

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