5 New Battery Technologies That Could CHANGE EVERYTHING

batteries are everywhere in today's hyper-connected electrically propelled society i bet a battery is powering the device you're watching this video on right now do you have low battery status what if you didn't have to charge your phone again for another month what if your electric car could travel 1000 miles on a single charge charge in 10 minutes and last for 1 million miles for this video we collaborated with a team of scientists to sort through the current battery research and evaluate the most promising new technologies based on performance practicality and economics we waited to publish this video until after tesla's battery day so we could take their announcements into consideration and have the most accurate snapshot of the current battery landscape [Music] today just about every electric car uses lithium-ion batteries they're pretty good but ultimately are heavy and have long charging times for the amount of energy they can store to add insult to injury the energy density of decomposed organisms destructively drilled from the earth still achieve more than 100 times the energy density of the batteries used in most electric cars one kilogram of gasoline contains about 48 megajoules of energy and lithium-ion battery packs only contain about 0.3 megajoules of energy per kilogram what's more lithium batteries degrade with each charging cycle gradually losing capacity over the battery's lifetime researchers often compare batteries by the number of full cycles until the battery has only 80 percent of its original energy capacity remaining according to elon musk battery modules are the main limiting factor in electric vehicle life in 2019 he said the tesla model 3 drive unit is rated for 1 million miles but the battery only lasts for 300 000 to 500 000 miles or about 1500 charge cycles while energy density and lifetime improvements to batteries appear to be the most crucial issues there are environmental and geopolitical problems associated with current lithium-ion batteries which are equally if not more pressing to solve to reach the battery of tomorrow current technology also relies heavily on cobalt an element mostly found in the democratic republic of congo the mining industry of the world's largest producer is often made up of competing rebel militias that use child labor much is legally exported and directly funds armed conflict in the region additionally the camps often create conditions which drive deforestation and an array of human rights abuses to handle the predicted demand explosion for electric vehicles over the coming decades we'll need to create better batteries that are cheaper longer lasting more durable and more efficient we must also address the issues of political and environmental sustainability to ensure batteries remain tenable in an increasingly electric future [Music] many questions were answered after tesla's long-awaited battery day took place on september 22nd the palo alto automaker announced a larger tables 4680 battery cell with improved energy density greater ease of manufacturing and lower cost the king size cells make use of an improved design that eliminates the tabs normally found in lithium-ion batteries that transfer the cell's energy to an external source instead tesla basically took the existing foils laser-powdered them and enabled dozens of connections into the active material through this shingled spiral this more efficient cell design alleviates thermal issues and simplifies the manufacturing process tesla also introduced high nickel cathodes that eliminate the need for cobalt and improved silicon battery chemistry in which they stabilize the surface with an elastic ion conducting polymer coating that allows for a higher percentage of cheap commodified silicon to be used in cell manufacture altogether these changes create an expected 56 percent improvement in tesla's cost per kilowatt hour and the new 4680 cells expect to achieve a five times increase in energy storage a sixteen percent increase in range and a six times increase in power tesla hopes the improved cell design will allow them to achieve an eventual production target of three terawatt hours per year by 2030 and help scale the world's transition to ubiquitous long-distance electric vehicles after tesla's recent battery day the world's attention is now more focused on batteries than ever before but tesla isn't the only show in town in the following video we're going to explore five exciting new battery technologies that could change everything [Music] metal air batteries have been around for a while you might find a little zinc air button cell in hearing aid for example but scaled up aluminum and lithium-air chemistries are also promising for the automotive and aerospace industries the potential for lightweight batteries with high energy storage makes this battery technology promising lithium air batteries could have a maximum theoretical specific energy of 3 460 watt hours per kilogram almost 10 times more than lithium ion realistic battery packs would probably be closer to 1 000 watt hours per kilogram initially but this is still three to five times higher than lithium-ion batteries can achieve as usual this technology is not without its drawbacks current electrodes of lithium-air batteries tend to clog with lithium salts after only a few tens of cycles most researchers are using porous forms of carbon to transmit air to the liquid electrolytes feeding pure oxygen to the batteries is one solution but it's a potential safety hazard in the automotive environment researchers at the university of illinois found that they could prevent this clogging by using molybdenum disulfide nanoflakes to catalyze the formation of a thin coating of lithium peroxide on the electrodes their test battery ran for 700 cycles compared to just 11 cycles of an equivalent with an uncoated electrode while this isn't enough lifetime for a car it's a promising hint of things to come more on nanotechnology later nasa researchers have also been investigating lithium-air batteries for use in aircraft they believe that once their research cell is optimized they should be looking at around 800 to 900 watt hours per kilogram powerful enough to reach the high power requirements of takeoff but they too are struggling with low battery life for them the solutions will boil down to improvements in the electrolyte in an interview with chemical and engineering news researchers commented from an organic chemistry perspective the challenge of lithium oxygen is that you're basically asking electrolyte to face many of the harshest reactive oxygen species possible they are now investigating molten salt electrolytes but hope to carry over the research into solid state alternatives in the future to improve battery lifetime and cyclability this technology still has a long way to go before you take your next business trip in an electric passenger jet but the promise of such high specific energy will hold researchers interest for the foreseeable future driven on by the promising advances made in recent years nanotechnology has been a buzzword for several decades but is now finding applications in everything from nanoelectronics to biomedical engineering and body armor to extra slippery clothing irons nanomaterials make use of particles and structures 1 to 100 nanometers in size essentially one size up from the molecular scale the magic is that they behave in unusual ways because this small size bridges the gap between that which operates under the rules of quantum physics and those of our familiar macro world as we've seen one of the challenges in battery design is the physical expansion of lithium electrodes as they charge researchers at purdue university made use of antimony nano chain electrodes last year to enable this material to replace graphite or carbon metal composite electrodes by structuring the metalloid element in this nano chain net shape extreme expansion can be accommodated within the electrode since it leaves a web of empty pores the battery appears to charge rapidly and show no deterioration over the 100 charge cycles tested carbon nanostructures also show great promise graphene is one of the most exciting of these graphene is made up of a single atomic thickness sheet of graphite and it turns out that this material has very interesting electrical properties being a very thin semiconductor with high carrier mobility meaning that electrons are transmitted along it rapidly in the presence of an electric field as inside a battery it is also thermally conductive and has exceptional mechanical strength about 200 times stronger than steel grabat a spanish nanotechnology company are pursuing graphene polymer cathodes with metallic lithium anodes a highly potent combination if their electrolyte can adequately protect the metallic anode and prevent dendrite growth this battery promises to be lighter and more robust than current technology while charging and discharging faster and with greater energy capacity samsung have patented a technology they call graphene balls these are silicon oxide nanoparticles which are coated with graphene sheets that resemble popcorn these are used as the cathode as well as being applied in a protective layer on the anode the researchers found increases in the volumetric density of a full cell of 27.6 percent compared to an uncoated equivalent and the experimental cell retains almost 80 capacity after 500 cycles additionally charging is accelerated and temperature control is improved nanograph meanwhile are using graphene sheets to produce carbon silicon batteries to increase stored energy by 30 percent amprius goes one stage further with their anodes of 100 silicon nanowire the maker claims that they can achieve 500 watt hours per kilogram which is in the range suitable for enabling electric aircraft airbus space and defense announced a partnership with the company last october the silicon nanowires are attached to a thin foil by vapor deposition in a continuous roll roll production process helping keep manufacturing costs down the clever part is is that these finger-like projections are porous on a micro and macro scale allowing them to swell freely without significant expansion of the whole electrode just as trees swell with leaves in spring but the forest remains the same size some internet sleuths concluded that the company was recently acquired by tesla because ambryas recently moved their headquarters right next to a tesla facility but elon musk debunked these claims on twitter saying but actually nothing was surprised to hear there across the road adding silicon to carbon anode makes sense we already do question is just what ratio of silicon to carbon and what shape silicon expands like crazy during discharge and comes apart so cycle life is usually bad nanomaterial research is promising the university of california irvine have even produced electrodes good for 200 000 cycles using gold nanowires and manganese dioxide with a polymer gel electrolyte and many other research efforts are ongoing with other diverse materials one thing that seems to be sure though is that as soon as it's possible to mass-produce suitable nanotechnology we will be seeing it in our batteries in some form and quite possibly in conjunction with silicon [Music] lithium sulfur batteries are one emerging technology that can offer greatly improved energy densities compared to lithium-ion the theoretical maximum specific energy of this chemistry is 2567 watt hours per kilogram compared to lithium-ion's 350 watt hours per kilogram maximum this is a huge improvement a lithium sulfur battery could be up to seven and a half times lighter than its current equivalent right now lithium sulfur batteries are nowhere near their theoretical limit but the alise a pan-european collaboration are working towards attaining a stable automotive battery of 500 watt hours per kilogram based on this technology in terms of economics sulfur is much cheaper than the cobalt and manganese it would replace and can be extracted as a byproduct of fossil fuel refinement or mined from abundant natural deposits existing lithium ion batteries are made up of an anode and a cathode between which a liquid electrolyte allows dissolved lithium ions to travel lithium sulfur batteries are constructed similarly except that the active element in the cathode is sulfur while the anode remains lithium-based researchers are facing a few challenges in bringing this technology to market firstly sulfur is a poor conductor of electricity typically the sulfur atoms are embedded within the matrix of carbon atoms and graphite an excellent electrical conductor this arrangement is vulnerable to a process known as shuttling which causes batteries to drain when not in use while also corroding metallic lithium anodes reducing capacity as the battery is cycled next and most significantly the electrodes physically swell up as the lithium ions bond to them this is more dramatic with lithium sulfur than existing chemistries the sulfur cathode expanding and contracting by as much as 78 as the battery cycles or eight times more than cathodes typically used in lithium-ion batteries as might be expected from this kind of repeated strain polymer or carbon-based supports and binders fragment and can disintegrate as the battery cycles reducing capacity and performance one approach to solving this is to bind the cathodes with different polymers and to reduce their thickness so that the absolute change in dimension is not so extreme many lithium-based batteries also must deal with dendritic growth thin fingers of metal which grow away from the surface and can eventually reach across to the cathode creating a short circuit and rapid discharge this is the same thermal runaway malfunction which has caused lithium-ion battery fires in the past so research for coping with this effect can be carried over to lithium-sulfur technology including exciting uses of graphene and other nano structures to act as scaffolds for the deposition of lithium solid state electrolytes could also offer solutions to these issues lithium sulfur batteries are not just ivory tower ideas airbus defense in space flew a 350 watt hour per kilogram battery made by scion energy back in 2014 powering their zephyr high altitude pseudo satellite researchers at monash university in australia announced in 2020 that they anticipate having a product ready for commercialization in two to four years which could provide electric cars with a 621 mile range a common theme in emerging technologies so far has been researchers desire to develop solid-state electrolytes these would replace flammable organic liquids with stable crystalline or glassy state solids or polymer base it's hoped that using these solid electrolytes would enable the use of metallic lithium electrodes to provide higher output voltages and allow for increased energy density additionally battery safety improves in vehicle crashes and becomes more resistant to overheating and short circuiting in part due to physical blocking of the dendritic growth of lithium and other electrode materials which currently plague lithium batteries apart from its theoretical promise we can be confident that we will see solid-state batteries powering us along the road in the near future because car makers as diverse as volkswagen toyota bmw and hyundai have all been investing in the technology volkswagen for example put 300 million dollars into quantum scape a stanford university spin-off quantum scape has been holding its cards close to its vest as the website offers no information on their product only a long list of new job openings implying company expansion and confidence in their product it's notable that they hold patents on sulfide based lithium ion technology and seem to be interested in thin sintered ceramic films and lithium impregnated garnet one of the difficulties in solid state electrolyte design is dealing with the expansion of electrodes which is more difficult to manage in solid materials a solid electrolyte must be sufficiently flexible to permit this yet also tough enough to resist dendrite penetration quantum scape hold a patent for composite electrolytes to allow them to customize and adjust the physical properties of their electrolytes for such conflicting requirements panasonic have also been looking into solid-state electrolytes it's notable that tesla have been partnered with panasonic in their existing lithium-ion manufacturing capacity but it's toyota who have publicly announced their collaboration with panasonic to develop next-generation solid-state batteries samsung 2 are working on solid-state batteries and in may 2020 described their technology based on a silver and carbon anode claiming this could give a generic electric car a 500 mile range and survive over 1 000 charging cycles this is probably good news for your phone and laptop too given their current commercial interests it may just be a matter of time before solid-state electrolytes are in your pocket and in your car [Music] two carbon electrodes and a non-toxic electrolyte what's not to like add the ability to extract more power than from conventional lithium ion and their ability to charge 20 times faster and these lithium-ion variants could be the future for electric vehicles pjpi an offshoot of japan power plus have developed this technology with the national kaiushu university in fukuoka and are currently supplying their cambrian batteries to an electric bicycle company marushi's cycle currently these are single carbon electrode batteries and details of their exact makeup are hard to find but they are simultaneously working on a fully dual carbon battery with two carbon electrodes eventually to be manufactured from natural agriculturally grown products they anticipate achieving a performance similar to graphene-based batteries although their cambrian batteries have a lower specific energy and lower energy density than lithium-ion meaning that their batteries are both heavier and bulkier than their equivalents they boast higher specific power for the same massive battery as a lithium-ion based alternative it's possible to extract the energy much faster translating into faster vehicle accelerations in addition to this unlike lithium-ion these carbon-based batteries can be discharged fully the maker claims that this changes the equation for actual usable energy density boasting a 40 improvement in range over lithium-ion batteries of the same capacity moreover they say that the battery runs cool and does not require the heavy cooling systems of current electric vehicles their claim that a proof of concept battery degraded only 10 percent after 8 000 cycles is very promising they plan to gradually upscale from low volume applications such as medical devices and satellites towards mass-market aerospace and automotive customers with a battery made from carbonized cotton fibers rather than exotic toxic metals with fast charging and exceptionally low battery degradation over thousands of charging cycles maybe these will provide long-term sustainable solutions for commercial vehicles in the coming decades so much diverse research is underway in battery technology that it's almost impossible just to pick five selections lithium batteries are found in almost any modern battery powered product cars computers cameras and phones quadcopters and drones have come about because of advances in battery technology as well and uses for these machines are mostly held back by current battery life limitations better batteries are also important for the advancement of stationary storage from renewable energy sources such as solar power tesla is also making headway into this sector with products like the power wall home battery and power pack commercial energy storage products consumers technology companies and industry are all clamoring for safer lighter more energy dense solutions and concern is also mounting worldwide at the environmental impact of this growing demand for batteries with all of these exciting new battery technologies on the horizon it's clear the future will be electric a great first step to prepare for the coming electric revolution is to learn the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism brilliant does a great job of taking complicated science and breaking it down into bite-sized pieces with fun and challenging interactive explorations master concepts and build a base of knowledge so you can develop your intuition to better understand how the world is changing i've taken brilliant courses on electricity and magnetism and solar energy and was really impressed with how well they structured their lessons with clever analogies examples and quizzes to test your knowledge it almost makes learning feel like a game and i found myself eager to advance through the course brilliant offers a wide range of other content and topics from mathematical fundamentals to quantitative finance from scientific thinking to special relativity from programming with python to machine learning to all those who believe the future will be electric go to brilliant.org electric future and sign up for free and also the first 200 people that go to that link will get 20 off the annual premium subscription the technologies discussed in this video could have huge implications on different battery-powered transportation options besides just electric cars imagine the potential in everything from electric bikes to electric scooters and electric boats to electric airplanes consumer electronics also stand to experience vast improvements in battery life in devices such as smartphones laptops cameras and more the future is electric we showcase cutting edge sustainable technology if you enjoyed this video please give it a like and subscribe to our channel you may be interested in watching one of these videos next thanks for watching and have a great day [Music] you

Channel: Electric Future

Views: 904,284

Rating: 4.8723612 out of 5

Keywords: tesla, lithium ion, lithium sulfur, solid state battery, lithium air, electrolyte, anode, cathode, tesla battery day, new batteries, better batteries, most powerful battery, battery day, graphene battery, new battery technology, breakthrough battery technology

Id: DOBBwx3Cbbk

Length: 20min 21sec (1221 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020