The co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery has built up the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to more secure, fast charging and longer-lasting rechargeable batteries.
John Goodenough, an educator in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, believes the development of a low-cost solid state battery that is non-flammable with a high volumetric energy density and fast rates of charge and discharge could be used for handheld mobile phones, electric cars, and static energy storage, as per Fortune
"Value, safety or well-being, energy density, rates of charge and discharge and cycle life are important for battery-driven cars to be more generally adopted," Goodenough said in an announcement. "We believe our discovery resolves many issues that are basic in today's batteries," he added.
The new batteries have the energy density as the lithium-ion batteries as of now being used. A battery cell's energy density gives an electric vehicle its driving range, so a higher energy density implies that a car can drive more miles between charges.
Right now, lithium-ion batteries use fluid electrolytes to transport the lithium ions between the anode and the cathode. In the event that a battery cell is charged too fast, it can bring about dendrites or metal whiskers to form and cross through the fluid electrolytes, creating a short circuit that can prompt to explosions and fires.
But, the researchers depended on glass electrolytes that empower the use of alkali-metal anode without the formation of dendrites. The alkali-metal anode builds the energy density of a cathode and carries a long cycle life. In tests, the cells have exhibited more than 1,200 cycles with low cell resistance. The solid-glass electrolytes can work or have a high conductivity at - 20 degrees Celsius, which implies the battery can perform well in a car in below zero degrees climate.
Goodenough and Braga now anticipate launching their battery-related research and are taking a shot at a few related licenses. Goodenough is credited as being the first with Koichi Mizushima to show a rechargeable lithium cell with voltage in the 4 V range, which he did in 1980 at Oxford University.
