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					</table><p>A recent study by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.kit.edu/english/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KIT</a>) has shown that the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase, which is crucial for the functioning of lithium-ion batteries, occurs through the aggregation of solutions rather than directly at the electrode.</p>
<p>The findings offer insights into developing more efficient and long-lasting batteries in the future.</p>
<p>The researchers reached this conclusion through simulations, and the results of their study have been published in the <em>Advanced Energy Materials</em> journal.</p>
<p>These batteries, including liquid electrolyte batteries, function reliably on a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) that forms when voltage is applied for the first time.</p>
<p>The passivation layer, also known as the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), plays a crucial role in a lithium-ion battery&#8217;s electrochemical capacity and lifetime, as it is subjected to high stress during every charging cycle.</p>
<p>When the SEI is broken down, the electrolyte is further decomposed, resulting in reduced battery capacity, ultimately determining the battery&#8217;s lifetime.</p>
<p>Controlling the properties of a battery requires a thorough understanding of the SEI&#8217;s growth and composition. However, hitherto no approach has been able to decipher SEI&#8217;s complex growth processes at broad scales and dimensions.</p>
<p>It has remained a mystery how the particles in the electrolytes form a passivation layer up to 100 nanometers thick on the surface of the electrode, as the decomposition reaction is only possible within a few nanometers distance from the surface.</p>
<p>The new study from KIT has successfully characterized the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) using a multi-scale approach, solving a major mystery regarding the functioning of liquid electrolyte batteries.</p>
<p>To understand the formation and properties of the passivation layer in liquid electrolyte batteries, KIT&#8217;s Institute of Nanotechnology conducted over 50,000 simulations with various reaction conditions.</p>
<p>The team discovered that the SEI follows a solution-mediated pathway, where SEI precursors formed directly at the surface join far away from the electrode surface via nucleation.</p>
<p>This process forms a porous layer that eventually covers the electrode surface.</p>
<p>Researchers can develop suitable electrolytes and additives to control SEI properties and optimize battery performance and lifespan by identifying key reaction parameters that determine SEI thickness.</p>
<p>Recently, researchers at the Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, China, and Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/crab-shells-could-power-rechargeable-batteries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">upcycled</a> crab shells into porous, carbon-filled materials with various uses, including crab carbon, to create anode materials for sodium-ion batteries.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, researchers at South Korea&#8217;s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology <a href="https://mercomindia.com/perovskite-alkylammonium-26-08-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a perovskite solar cell using alkylammonium chloride to control the formation of defects in the perovskite layer.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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KIT Researchers Discover a New Solution to Battery Passivation Puzzle


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					</table><p>Researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.iit.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IIT</a>) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) Argonne National Laboratory have developed a lithium-air battery design that could power domestic airplanes and long-haul trucks.</p>
<p>The research, published in a recent issue of <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq1347" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Science</em></a><em>, </em>was funded by the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/vehicle-technologies-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE Vehicle Technologies Office</a> and the <a href="https://science.osti.gov/bes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of Basic Energy Sciences</a> through the Joint Centre for Energy Storage Research.</p>
<p>The main new component in this lithium-air battery is a solid electrolyte instead of the usual liquid variety.</p>
<p>Batteries with solid electrolytes are not prone to safety issues associated with the liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion and other battery types, which can overheat and catch fire.</p>
<p>The team’s battery chemistry with the solid electrolyte can potentially boost the energy density by as many as four times above lithium-ion batteries, translating into a longer driving range.</p>
<p>“The lithium-air battery has the highest projected energy density of any battery technology being considered for the next generation of batteries beyond lithium-ion,” said Larry Curtiss, an Argonne Distinguished Fellow.</p>
<p>The team’s new solid electrolyte is composed of a ceramic polymer material made from relatively inexpensive elements in nanoparticle form.</p>
<p>The solid enables chemical reactions that produce lithium oxide (Li2O) on discharge.</p>
<p>“The chemical reaction for lithium superoxide or peroxide only involves one or two electrons stored per oxygen molecule, whereas that for lithium oxide involves four electrons,” said Argonne chemist Rachid Amine.</p>
<p>More electrons mean higher energy density.</p>
<p>The team said its lithium-air design is the first lithium-air battery that has achieved a four-electron reaction at room temperature.</p>
<p>It also operates with oxygen supplied by air from the surrounding environment and has the capability to run with air avoiding the need for oxygen tanks to operate &#8212; which was a problem with earlier designs.</p>
<p>The team employed many different techniques to establish that a four-electron reaction was actually taking place.</p>
<p>One key technique was transmission electron microscopy of the discharge products on the cathode surface which provided valuable insight into the four-electron discharge mechanism.</p>
<p>Past lithium-air test cells suffered from very short cycle lives. However, the team established that this shortcoming is not the case for their new battery design by building and operating a test cell for 1,000 cycles, demonstrating its stability over repeated charge and discharge.</p>
<p>With further development, the researchers expect their new design for the lithium-air battery to also reach a record energy density of 1,200 watt-hours per kilogram.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, researchers from Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory <a href="https://mercomindia.com/stanford-find-reason-failure-of-lithium-batteries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that they have solved the mystery behind the persistent problem of short-circuit and failure in new lithium metal batteries.</p>
<p>In January, researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science &amp; Technology said they had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-find-a-way-next-generation-lithium-batteries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a new electrolyte technology through magnetic nanoparticles that can improve both the stability and lifespan of next-generation lithium batteries.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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New Lithium-Air Battery Performs Four Times Better than Lithium-Ion

<p>Researchers at the <a href="https://www.uakron.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Akron</a>, United States, have asserted that they have developed the most stable catholyte (positive electrolyte) for aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFB) and demonstrated cells that could keep 90% of stored energy capacity over 6,000 cycles and 16 years of uninterrupted service.</p>
<p>The researchers collaborated with scientists at Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory to develop the stable catholyte.</p>
<p>The researchers said low-cost, scalable redox flow batteries are among the most suitable storage technology. However, existing redox flow batteries use high-cost and environmentally hazardous electrolytes.</p>
<p>Recently, water-soluble organic materials have been proposed as future electrolytes in redox flow batteries obtained from renewable sources and manufactured at a low cost. However, the lack of stable water-soluble electrolyte materials, particularly catholyte, is a major barrier for AORFBs.</p>
<p>To develop a water-soluble catholyte and enhance its energy density in water, the researchers changed the symmetry of molecules instead of attaching a hydrophilic functional group to improve molecules’ energy density. The researchers plan to design new materials that could further mature redox flow batteries with this new design strategy.</p>
<p>Yu Zhu, a professor at the University of Akron’s School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, said, “Development of high-performance redox flow batteries will enrich the category of energy storage systems, therefore largely improving the usability of electricity powered facilities, such as vehicles.”</p>
<p>“To significantly improve the performance of aqueous organic redox flow batteries, the urgency of developing a new catholyte is crucial,” Zhu said.</p>
<p>The researchers have submitted a patent application for this new technology. The scalability of the materials would be further studied at Akron PolyEnergy, a spin-off company of the University of Akron that focuses on developing materials in energy storage devices, including lithium-ion batteries and flow batteries.</p>
<p>Last year, researchers at Friedrich Schiller University <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-polymer-redox-flow-batteries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a new polymer electrolyte for redox flow batteries that enhances its efficiency and heat-resistance capacity. According to the research report, the new polymer electrolyte is soluble in water and can be used in aqueous electrolytes. The new polymer can also store electricity as it contains ions.</p>
<p>Mercom had earlier <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-develop-redox-flow-battery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that researchers at TU Graz University developed a redox flow battery that utilizes conventional vanillin instead of liquid electrolyte, making the battery more environmentally friendly. The researchers refined the common flavoring substance vanillin into a redox-active material with the help of mild and green chemistry without using harmful and costly metal catalysts.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Researchers Develop a Stable Catholyte for Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries

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