Scientists propose alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for smartphones

According to the Russian satellite news agency sputniknews, Russian and German scholars have proposed an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for smartphones based on sodium. In the case of success, it will be possible to produce a new generation of batteries superior to lithium-ion batteries, but the price is only a fraction of that of lithium-ion batteries. The results of the research were published in the journal Nano Energy.

Work of the Moscow State Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISIS), Russian National Research University of Technology, Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) The personnel figured out that if two layers of sodium atoms are placed between two layers of graphene, like a sandwich, then this device will exhibit extremely high capacity.

Li Lei, an associate researcher at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, commented on the research and development results of new technologies to Russian Satellite News Agency and radio stations that although the price is lower, the capacity of sodium batteries is temporarily inferior to lithium batteries.

"Compared with lithium batteries, the main advantage of sodium batteries lies in their cost, because sodium salt raw materials are abundant and cheap, while lithium reserves are limited in the world. Of course, sodium batteries also have theoretical defects. According to the element cycle The table shows that lithium comes in front of sodium and has a smaller radius than sodium ions. This results in the conductivity of sodium ions being relatively lower than that of lithium ions, making the final assembled battery capacity smaller than that of lithium batteries."

According to Wired, a US monthly magazine for computer technology, most consumers believe that the charging time of the built-in battery is one of the main characteristics of smartphones. Statistics confirm the fact that people's electronic device batteries are often insufficient-the market capacity of external batteries (also known as mobile power supplies) will reach 25 billion US dollars by 2022.

"Therefore, current researchers are mainly devoted to the development of electrode materials with high sodium ion storage, including the research results mentioned in the news background. The sodium ion storage capacity of such a two-dimensional layered material will also be higher than the theoretical capacity of lithium ion. However, the current research has not yet been able to fully realize the real industrialization, I think further exploration and experimentation are needed in the future," Li Lei pointed out.

Experts believe that a "battery revolution" is not expected in the near future. People are using lithium-ion batteries everywhere, their working principles are easy to understand, and the production chain is well arranged. Although hundreds of research results have been published, billions of dollars have been spent, and dozens of start-ups have devoted their efforts, the working technology of batteries has indeed not undergone major changes in the past 30 years.

“We can see that the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the research and development of lithium-ion batteries. It has been decades since the invention of lithium batteries and the technology is relatively mature. Including its industrial chain, electrode materials and intermediate matching electrolyte membranes, they are all relatively mature technologies, and this is the main reason why lithium batteries are still widely used. The technology is relatively mature, including its industrial chain, electrode materials and intermediate Matching electrolyte diaphragms are relatively mature technologies, and this is the main reason why lithium batteries are still widely used."

However, Li Lei believes that with the development of science and technology, lithium-ion batteries are gradually approaching their technological limits: they are poorly adapted to modern technology products such as electric vehicles or complex portable electronic products, but the cost of resource extraction for the production of lithium batteries is Continue to increase.

"However, the current development of lithium batteries has also encountered a bottleneck. With the development of technology, lithium batteries have gradually been unable to meet people's daily needs, such as the battery life of electric vehicles and the standby time of 5G mobile phones. Therefore. This requires some new battery technologies, which we also call the "post-lithium battery era", such as sodium batteries, zinc-air batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and lithium-air batteries. However, these new battery technologies have not yet reached a truly mature level. As for the stage of security application, as for how long it will take to wait, I think it is not easy to predict at present, because sometimes disruptive technologies or materials are needed to accelerate the development process."

As of today, it is really difficult to predict when this field will achieve a breakthrough. Dozens of companies are trying to create new types of batteries: improving their capacity and service life.

Sila Nanotechnologies, founded by Gene Berdichevsky, a former Tesla employee, launched a battery using silicon powder in 2019. Silicon atoms can store 20 times more lithium than carbon atoms. Accordingly, this makes it possible to make more powerful batteries without increasing their size. BMW's electric vehicles want to introduce this technology in the future. As of today, the investors of Silanami Technology Inc. include Samsung, China Matrix Partners and Chengwei Capital.

The British company ZapGo recommends the use of carbon in battery production. They operate on the principle of supercapacitors, accumulating energy in an electric field. But they cannot accumulate as much energy as ordinary batteries, and they lose energy very quickly.

For the battery of the British ZapGo company, or any battery that runs on the basis of a super capacitor, a special charging device is also necessary. This kind of charging device can accumulate electrical energy from the plug and transfer all electrical energy to the mobile phone instantly.

In fact, despite many new research results, lithium-ion batteries are still the most commonly used battery. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) estimates, in 2016 alone, the total capacity of all lithium-ion batteries sold reached 120hw. This is about 7.5 billion standard mobile phone batteries, which means it is almost equivalent to one for every human hand on the planet.