Battery Life Worth its Weight in Salt

This article is about a chemist's recently discovered salt that has garnered much industry praise towards extending lithium-ion batteries' life. The article doesn't get into specifics (nor regrettably, the salt), but this could be something to keep an eye out for.

University of Rhode Island chemistry professor's discovery of a new salt has been received with enthusiasm by companies seeking to develop an advanced lithium ion battery for use in the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles.

Brett Lucht, co-director of the URI Energy Center, recently received a $731,000 contract from the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Vehicle technologies. The URI professor and his research group have been studying the mechanism that causes lithium ion batteries to degrade over time.

[...]

Lithium ion batteries have greater energy density than the nickel metal hydride batteries currently used in hybrid vehicles, which means they can provide the same amount of power as batteries nearly twice their size and weight. Smaller, lighter weight batteries will help to extend the range and gas mileage of hybrid vehicles.

"Most of the problems associated with the aging of batteries are due to the electrolyte – the liquid in the battery that contains dissolved salts and that allows the lithium ions to go back and forth between the electrodes," explained Lucht.

The structure of salts in battery electrolytes is much more complex than typical table salt (sodium chloride), according to Lucht. The best salts for lithium ion batteries are those that have high conductivity and excellent stability. "Few molecular structures are both," he said, "and we have discovered a new one."

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The researchers have been working closely on the salt with Yardney Technical Products of Pawcatuck, Conn., which makes specialty batteries for the military and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Several Fortune 500 companies will also be conducting tests on the salt.

In addition to his salt discovery, Lucht has also developed additives for lithium ion batteries that stabilize the salt in the battery electrolytes and inhibit its degradation due to heat. Patents are currently pending on this technology. These additives have been successfully tested in small lithium ion batteries, and testing in larger batteries is now under way.

A patent is pending on the new salt.

- Brewskie

Hitachi's Potent Lithium-ion Battery

Did you know Japan accounts for 70% of the world's electric car patents? It's little wonder when you have bellwethers like Hitachi cranking out lithium-ion batteries practically juiced up on a concoction of plutonium, and Alex Rodriguez's cocktail of steroid/HGH supplements. This demon packs the "world's highest power density of 4,500W/kg, 1.7 times the output of the company's mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion batteries;" sampling starts this fall!

You can read about it here. Big hat tip to B Cole for sniffing this out.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT / TSE:6501,hereinafter Hitachi) today announced that Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd. which develops and manufactures lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles, have developed a lithium-ion battery having the world's highest power density of 4,500W/kg, 1.7 times the output of the company's mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion batteries. Sampling of the new battery by domestic and overseas car manufacturers will start in the fall.

To reduce internal resistance, the battery employs a new manganese cathode and an original Hitachi battery structure, in such as thinner electrodes, power collection method and effective configurations to achieve the world's highest output.

The new battery will be on display at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2009 held at PACIFICO Yokohama from May 20 to May 22. Right now.

- Brewskie

New MIT Lithium-Ion Battery on Par With Ultracapacitors

This from the light of Technology Review:

A lithium-ion battery electrode described this week in the journal Nature can deliver electricity several times faster than other such batteries. It could be particularly useful where rapid power bursts are needed, such as for laser weapons or hybrid race cars.

Test batteries based on the new electrode--developed by Gerbrand Ceder, a professor of materials science at MIT--can be discharged in 10 seconds. In comparison, the best high-power lithium-ion batteries today discharge in a minute and a half, and conventional lithium-ion batteries, such as those in laptops, can take hours to discharge. The new high rate, the researchers calculate, would allow a one-liter battery based on the material to deliver 25,000 watts, or enough power for about 20 vacuum cleaners.

This level of power output would put these batteries on par with ultracapacitors, gadgets that can rapidly discharge power but can't carry much energy for their size, says John Miller, a vice president for systems and applications at Maxwell Technologies, a manufacturer of ultracapacitors, who wasn't involved in the research. The new batteries would store nearly 10 times as much energy as an ultracapacitor of the same size. The combination of small size and extreme power could make the batteries particularly useful for race cars, he says. (Starting this year, new Formula One racing rules will allow race cars to store energy from braking to deliver very brief jolts of acceleration.)

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The fast-discharging materials may also recharge quickly, raising the possibility of cell phones that charge in seconds, Ceder says, but this would require expensive chargers. Ric Fulop, vice president of business development at A123 Systems, a battery maker based in Watertown, MA, that has licensed Ceder's new material, says that it could be useful for hybrids or for delivering the power needed for laser weapons. (Fulop notes that A123 is not developing batteries for the latter application.)

- Brewskie