The team led by Prof. Fei-Yi Hung, Chun-Shing Lu and Li-Huei Chen from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering working with its instrument center claim to have succeeded in overcoming the problems caused by the high activity of magnesium and increasing the stability.
Prof. Hung said, the stability of the magnesium battery prototype has been increased by controlling the reduction-oxidation effects and by the use of magnesium membrane electrodes and magnesium powder electrodes technology.
A magnesium battery’s capacity is eight to 12 times higher than a lithium battery, and its charge-discharge efficiency is five times higher as well.
Take electric bicycles for example, a bicycle takes three hours to charge completely when using lithium battery but would only take 36 minutes if using magnesium battery.
Prof. Hung pointed out that devices powered by lithium batteries are usually unable to function properly in temperatures below -15°C but the research team found that if they coated lithium batteries with magnesium, they still worked at temperatures as low as-30°C and as high as 55°C.
“We hope the next-generation battery would be more environmentally friendly,” according to Prof. Hung.
The present generation of batteries have an negative electrode that is usually made from graphite, which is made from processed petroleum coke, he explained.
While one of the greatest benefits of magnesium batteries is safety, according to Prof. Hung, the most difficult part in normalizing distribution is the difficulty of making electrolyte solvent.
Source: http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/could-magnesium-battery-innovation-end-lithium-s-dominance.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222922884&vID=209
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