These days almost all our electronic devices utilize the lithium-ion battery but Lynden Archer, professor of chemical engineering at Cornell University thinks that we need a “revolution”in the field of battery technology and is positive that Cornell has succeeded in developing a new lithium battery that will bring a lot of change to the existing design and efficiency. “What we have now [in lithium-ion battery technology] is actually at the limits of its capabilities,” said Lynden Archer. “The lithium-ion battery, which has become the workhorse in powering new electronics technologies, operates at over 90 percent of its theoretical storage capacity. Minor engineering tweaks may lead to better batteries with more storage, but this is not a long-term solution.” Archer believes that our mindset needs a “radical” change and that we must start at the beginning.
Snehasis Choudhary, a Ph.D student at Cornell University designed new lithium batteries that solve the basic problem with these rechargeable lithium ion batteries that utilize energy-dense metallic lithium anodes: Lithium is present inside the batteries as long spines called dendrites that arise from the anode of the battery- ions go to and fro from the electrolyte when you charge and discharge the battery. If in any case, the dendrite breaks through the separator and extends itself to the cathode, a short-circuit might occur which might lead to fire. Solid electrolytes can inhibit the growth of the dendrite to the cathode mechanically but that usually results in a slow ion transport. What Snehasis proposed is that the dendrite growth should be confined and regulated by the structure of the electrolyte, which can be controlled chemically.
The study, called Confining Electrodeposition of Metals in Structured Electrolytes was published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Choudhary wanted that the team at Cornell utilize the “cross-linked hairy nanoparticles”- made up of silica nanoparticles and polypropylene oxide to develop an electrolyte that is porous so that it could increase the length of the route that the ions must travel from anode to cathode- which will increase the life of the anode significantly. “This is something I’ve wanted to do for, I guess, three Ph.D. students’ lifetimes,” said Archer. “What Snehasis was able to do was design a cell that allowed us to, very elegantly, visualize what is occurring at the lithium-metal interface, giving us now the ability to go beyond theoretical predictions.”