Developer Of Aluminum-Ion Battery Claims It Charges 60 Times Faster Than Lithium-Ion

developer of aluminum ion battery claims it charges 60 times faster than lithium ion offering ev range breakthrough range anxiety recycling and fast charging fears could all be consigned to electric vehicle history with a nanotech driven australian battery invention the graphene aluminum ion battery cells from the brisbane-based graphene manufacturing group gmg are claimed to charge up to 60 times faster than the best lithium ion cells and hold three times the energy of the best aluminum-based cells they are also safer with no upper ampere limit to cause spontaneous overheating more sustainable and easier to recycle thanks to their stable base materials testing also shows the coin cell validation batteries also last three times longer than lithium-ion versions gmg plans to bring graphene aluminum ion coin cells to market late this year or early next year with automotive pouch cells planned to roll out in early 2024. based on breakthrough technology from the university of queensland's uq australian institute for bioengineering and nanotechnology the battery cells use nanotechnology to insert aluminum atoms inside tiny perforations in graphene planes testing by peer-reviewed specialist publication advanced functional materials publication concluded the cells had outstanding high rate performance 149 milliamp hours g minus 1 at 5 ag minus 1 surpassing all previously reported aib cathode materials gmg managing director craig nicol insisted that while his company's cells were not the only graphene aluminum ion cells under development they were easily the strongest most reliable and fastest charging it charges so fast it's basically a supercapacitor nickel claimed it charges a coin cell in less than 10 seconds the new battery cells are claimed to deliver far more power density than current lithium ion batteries without the cooling heating or rare earth problems they face so far there are no temperature problems 20 of a lithium ion battery pack in a vehicle is to do with cooling them there is a very high chance that we won't need the cooling or heating at all nickel claimed it does not overheat and it nicely operates below zero so far in testing they don't need circuits for cooling or heating which currently accounts for about 80 kilograms in a 100 kilowatt hours pack the new cell technology nickel insisted could also be industrialized to fit inside current lithium-ion housings like the volkswagen group's meb architecture heading off problems with car industry architectures that tend to be used for up to 20 years ours will be the same shape and voltage as the current lithium ion cells or we can move to whatever shape is necessary nickel confirmed it's a direct replacement that charges so fast it's basically a supercapacitor some lithium-ion cells can't do more than 1.5 to 2 amps or you can blow up the battery but our technology has no theoretical limit aluminum ion battery cells are a hotbed of development particularly for automotive use recent projects alone have included a collaboration between china's dalian university of technology and the university of nebraska plus others from cornell university clemson university the university of maryland stanford university the zhejiang university's department of polymer science and the european alien industrial consortium the differences are highly technical but the gmg cells use graphene from made from its proprietary plasma process rather than traditional graphite sourcing and the result is three times the energy density of the next best cell from stanford university stanford's natural graphite aluminum ion technology delivers 68.7 watt hours per kilogram and 41.2 watts per kilogram while its graphite foam bumps up to 3 000 with kilogram the gmg uq battery heaves that forward to between 150 and 160 watt hours per kilogram and 7 000 with kilogram they uq found a way to make holes in graphene and a way to store aluminum atoms closer together in the holes if we drill holes the atoms stick inside the graphene and it becomes a whole lot more dense like a bowling ball on a mattress the peer-reviewed publication advanced functional materials found surface perforated three-layer graphene spg 3-400 had a significant amount of in-plane mesopores approximately equals 2.3 nanometers and an extremely low oc ratio of 2.54 has demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance this spg 3-400 material exhibits an extraordinary reversible capacity 197 milliamp hours g minus 1 at 2a g minus 1 and outstanding high rate performance it concluded aluminum ion technology has intrinsic advantages and disadvantages over the preeminent lithium-ion battery technology being used in almost every ev today when a cell recharges aluminum ions return to the negative electrode and can exchange three electrons per ion instead of lithium speed limit of just one there is also a massive geopolitical cost environmental and recycling advantage from using aluminum ion cells because they use hardly any exotic materials it's basically aluminum foil aluminum chloride the precursor to aluminum and it can be recycled ionic liquid and urea nickel said 90 of world lithium production and purchasing is still through china and 10 is through chile we have all the aluminum we need right here in australia and they can be safely made in the first world listed on the tsx venture exchange in canada gmg hooked itself into uq's graphene aluminum ion battery technology by supplying the university with graphene our lead product scientist dr ashik nanjin was involved in the university of queensland project in its nanotechnology research center in its early days nichols said admitting gmg almost lucked into the technology by supplying research projects with its graphene at no cost gmg has not locked down a supply deal with a major manufacturer or manufacturing facility we are not tied into big brands yet but this could go into an apple iphone and charge it in seconds nickel confirmed we will bring the coin cell to market first it recharges in less than a minute and it has three times the energy than with lithium the barcode and product said it's a lot less adverse effect on health too a kid can be killed by lithium if it's ingested but not with aluminum another benefit would be cost lithium has risen from 1 460 united states dollars a metric ton in 2005 to 13 000 united states dollars a ton this week while aluminum's price has edged up from 1 730 united states dollars to 2078 united states dollars over the same period another advantage is that the gmg graphene aluminum ion cells do not use copper which costs around 8470 united states dollars a ton while it is open to manufacturing agreements gmg's preferred plan is to run with the technology as far as it can with 10 gigawatt to 50 gw plants first even if australia may not be the logical first choice for the manufacturing facility it's not the only brisbane-based company pushing battery solutions onto the world either ppk group has a joint venture with deakin university to develop lithium sulfur batteries and the veco group has confirmed a deal with shanghai electric for a brisbane manufacturing plant for vanadium batteries for commercial energy storage

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Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021