Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are turning to extremely tiny tubes and rods to boost power and durability in Li-ion batteries. If successful, the batteries will last longer and perform better, leading to a cost advantage for electric vehicles. Transportation and communication around the world increasingly rely on Li-ion batteries, with cell phones ubiquitous on six continents, and electric vehicles on pace to accelerate from a $1 billion worldwide market in 2009 to $14 billion by 2016.
NREL’s Energy Storage group is working with the Energy Department, automotive battery developers, and car manufacturers to enhance the performance and durability of advanced Li-ion batteries for a cleaner, more secure transportation future, said Energy Storage Group Manager Ahmad Pesaran. “The nanotube approach represents an exciting opportunity—improving the performance of rechargeable Li-ion batteries while make them last longer,” Pesaran said. “Increasing the life and performance of rechargeable batteries will drive down overall electric vehicle costs and make us less reliant on foreign sources of energy.”
Scientists at NREL have created crystalline nanotubes and nanorods to attack the major challenges inherent in Li-ion batteries: they can get too hot, weigh too much, and are less than stellar at conducting electricity and rapidly charging and discharging. NREL’s most recent contribution toward much-improved batteries are high-performance, binder-free, carbon-nanotube-based electrodes. The technology has quickly attracted interest from industry and is being licensed to NanoResearch, Inc., for volume production.
Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of matter on an atomic or molecular scale. How small? A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; it would take 1,000 of the nanotubes in NREL’s project lined up next to each other to cross the width of a human hair. Yet, scientists at NREL are able not only to create useful objects that small, but guide their formations into particular shapes. They’ve combined nanotubes and nanorods in such a way that they can aid battery charging while reducing swelling and shrinking that leads to electrodes with shortened lifetimes.
“Think of a Li-ion battery as a bird’s nest,” NREL Scientist Chunmei Ban said. “The NREL approach uses nanorods to improve what is going on inside, while ensuring that the nest remains durable and resilient.” “We are changing the architecture, changing the chemistry somewhat,” without changing the battery itself, she said.
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NREL’s work was supported by the Energy Department’s Vehicle Technology Office under the Battery for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) program, which focuses on reducing the cost and improving the performance and durability of the Li-ion batteries that power electric vehicles.
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