It's the Batteries, Stupid!

[Zzzz...]

While lots of people are working on silicon based anodes and sulpher cathodes, this is the most promising development I've seen. What's slowed battery development has been mostly the discovery of new chemical combinations which takes a lot of time. But this relies on an electro-mechanical solution that's not terribly hard to scale up.

Yeah I agree with you hcsharp, Yi Cui's work is very promising!

Guys!

What you think about this guys? PolyPlus Lithium Sulfur

They recently seems to have got funding from ARPA-E... Seven Next-Generation Energy Technologies Showcased by ARPA-E | MIT Technology Review

And they promise to start production at a factory in next two weeks

 

[JRP3]

I've been watching them for a while. It's good to see progress but producing membranes is not the same as building batteries.

 

[Zzzz...]

First commercialy produced rechargeable metal air battery hit the market...

Metal-Air Batteries for Cleaner, Cheaper Grid Backup | MIT Technology Review

Non rechargeable ones were in production, but this one is interesting development. Zinc air should be/could be more energy dense then li-ion(very little information on actual cell characteristics were disclosed by company).
And interesting read how zinc-air could relate to EV (but it talks about non rechargeable, just think of recharging instead of replacing/recycling :biggrin

 

[JRP3]

Graphene and Vanadium to the rescue, maybe. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/03/vo2-20130315.html

 

[Norbert]

Graphene and Vanadium to the rescue, maybe. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/03/vo2-20130315.html

Sounds good so far. Several open questions, however. For example: Is there a matching Anode material? What would the complete battery performance be, using the best available anode match?

 

[JRP3]

Aluminum for energy storage:

http://www.phinergy.com/

 

[JRP3]

Nano carbon boosts battery capacity: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/3/prweb10563098.htm

 

[JRP3]

New wonder material does it all, including doubling the lifespan of lithium batteries: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130320094856.htm

A new wonder material can generate hydrogen, produce clean water and even create energy. Science fiction? Hardly, and there's more -- It can also desalinate water, be used as flexible water filtration membranes, help recover energy from desalination waste brine, be made into flexible solar cells and can also double the lifespan of lithium ion batteries. With its superior bacteria-killing capabilities, it can also be used to develop a new type of antibacterial bandage.

 

[stopcrazypp]

New wonder material does it all, including doubling the lifespan of lithium batteries: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130320094856.htm

Sounds a lot like Altairnano's lithium titanate.

 

[Zzzz...]

This looks like sodium-ion chemistry (table salt made of sodium )
Technically sodium-ion could reach 400Wh/kg. But this company oriented toward grid-storage market, and they talk about 100Wh/kg max. The good thing they mention less then $2 worth of raw materials going into battery, up to 5,000 cycles without degradation 100%DOD, no self discharge observed plus high temperature tolerance. They pursue different chemistries... And while they not really looking at high specific energy formulations, I believe success of alternative to li-ion chemistry will bring more investments to sodium ion developments. Anyhow an interesting development in the field of non lithium chemistries.

And probably worth reading about CEO literally eating piece of battery during meeting with investors. Commercialization in around one year time, with long lead time equipment already ordered for 500MWh a year plant.

Aquions Battery-Eating CEO Gives Investors a Charge - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ

 

[JRP3]

XG Sciences, Inc. (XGS), a manufacturer of graphene platelets, has launched silicon anode materials for Li-ion batteries, with immediate availability.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/04/xgs-20130411.html

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/04/xgs-20130411.html

Interesting.

"Good cycle life". Starting with electronics manufacturers would suggest that cycle life is an issue, but that would be OK for Tesla since they have battery management expertise.

 

[JRP3]

Or it might be that at this point it's too expensive to put into vehicle sized packs. Let them work out the production kinks in small devices, increase volume, and drive the price down. Plus it would probably need a lot more testing before it goes into cars.

 

[Zzzz...]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/04/xgs-20130411.html

Nice to see silicon anodes finally being commercialized.

One remark, despite people talking about 1000+ Wh/Kg and 700 Wh/kg in comments, more realistically silicon based anodes could add 30%-40% to state of art high capacity cathodes cells. So 230-250 Wh/kg plus 30-40%...

It is a great progress/achievement, and I kinda "predicted" it:tongue: But do not think this would help to lower price of LIB, IMO

 

[JRP3]

If it's a less expensive material to work with and increases the amount of energy stored per unit of material I'd think it would have to lower the price of Li batteries.

 

[Zzzz...]

If it's a less expensive material to work with and increases the amount of energy stored per unit of material I'd think it would have to lower the price of Li batteries.

Yeah, a big if... While silicon as cheap as dirt (literally), purifying silicon is an expansive process because of high energy consumption. On the other hand not sure if high degree of purity needed for silicon used in anodes. Plus silicon chemically very stable, so it relatively hard to work with on particle level(in my understanding). Currently anode materials are almost pure commodity, and carbon easy to work with...

But I hope you are right, and I saw claims that Si based anodes will drive down the cost. I just skeptical.

 

[Zzzz...]

Another breakthrough battery design from Yi Cui...

And very promising one.

A Battery That Could Cut the Cost of Storing Power from Solar and Wind | MIT Technology Review

"Cui believes that the material and manufacturing costs of the battery might be low enough to meet the Department of Energy’s goal of $100 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity"

- - - Updated - - -

Here is a paper for those who interested: http://www.stanford.edu/group/cui_group/papers/Yuan_EES_2013.pdf

 

[JRP3]

LiFePO4 advancements: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/05/yang-20130502.html

The research team from the Nanomaterials and Energy Group at the Western University led by Dr. Xueliang (Andy) Sun has reported that the specific capacity of LiFePO[SUB]4[/SUB] can be greatly boosted to up to 168 mAh g[SUP]-1[/SUP]—98% of its theoretical capacity of 170 mAh g[SUP]-1[/SUP]—by using unfolded graphene as a three dimensional (3D) conducting network for LiFePO[SUB]4[/SUB] nanoparticle growth.

 

[castigador55]

New battery patent ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY 05/28/2013 ->> " ANL-IN-11-024 " ¿reduces costs by 50percent?

(1-x)LiFePO4·LixTix(PO4)δ


"* The process by which the compounds are prepared is simple and straightforward, uses inexpensive precursors, and does not
involve high energy consuming steps;
* Materials show increased energy density and cycle lifetime;
* No carbon coating is needed, which saves a processing step and reduces costs by 50 percent; and
* The materials can be added at low cost without changing current scalable cathode manufacturing processes"

 

[JRP3]

Energy density? C rates? Cycle life?