Using electronic devices for too long can cause them to overheat. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have developed a hydrogel that can both cool down electronics, such as cell phone batteries, and convert their waste heat into electricity.
Tag: Batteries
Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab
March 2020 Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab
Ultrasound device improves charge time and run time in lithium batteries
Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed an ultrasound-emitting device that brings lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, one step closer to commercial viability. Although the research team focused on LMBs, the device can be used in any battery, regardless of chemistry.
Energy storage startup SPARKZ licenses ORNL cobalt-free battery tech
Energy storage startup SPARKZ Inc. has exclusively licensed five battery technologies from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed to eliminate cobalt metal in lithium-ion batteries. The advancement is aimed at accelerating the production of electric vehicles and energy storage solutions for the power grid.
Cathode ‘Defects’ Improve Battery Performance
Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have made a new finding about battery performance that points to a different strategy for optimizing cathode materials. Their research, published in Chemistry of Materials and featured in ACS Editors’ Choice, focuses on controlling the amount of structural defects in the cathode material.
MTU engineers examine lithium battery defects
Lithium dendrites cause poor performance and even explosions in batteries with flammable liquid electrolytes. How these dendrites grow, even with a solid electrolytes, is still a mystery, but materials engineers at MTU and Oak Ridge study the conditions that enable dendrites and how to stop them.
A Peek into the Battery Technology Pipeline
With its deep expertise in materials research, materials design, and energy storage
technologies, Berkeley Lab is working on better battery alternatives. Gerbrand Ceder, a battery researcher in the Materials Science Division, details four battery echnologies being studied by Berkeley Lab scientists that could make a big difference in the future.
Argonne’s debt to 2019 Nobel Prize for lithium-ion battery
A roar of approval rang out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory upon the announcement in October that John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino had won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. On December 10th in Stockholm, they received this highly coveted prize for their major contributions to the invention of the lithium-ion battery, which is a long-standing major focus of research at Argonne.
Battery collaboration meeting discusses new pathways to recycle lithium-ion batteries
At a conference held by the ReCell Center, an advanced battery recycling collaboration based at Argonne, representatives from industry, government, and academia discussed innovative approaches for lithium-ion battery recycling.
Building a better battery with machine learning
In two new papers, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have turned to the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence to dramatically accelerate battery discovery.
Go With the Flow: Scientists Design New Grid Batteries for Renewable Energy
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have designed an affordable ‘flow battery’ membrane that could accelerate renewable energy for the electrical grid.
Charging Up the Development of Lithium-Ion Batteries
On October 9, the Nobel committee recognized work in developing lithium-ion batteries. These batteries have enabled a huge number of advances, including mobile phones and plug-in electric vehicles. The DOE Office of Science is proud to have supported research by Drs. Whittingham and Goodenough and to have funded research by many scientists who have built upon their innovations.
Binghamton University professor wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to M. Stanley Whittingham, distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Using High Energy Density Material in Electrode Design Enhances Lithium Sulfur Batteries
To develop higher capacity batteries, researchers have looked to lithium sulfur batteries because of sulfur’s high theoretical capacity and energy density. But there are still several problems to solve before they can be put into practical applications. The biggest is the shuttling effect that occurs during cycling. To solve this problem and improve lithium sulfur battery performance, the researchers created a sandwich-structured electrode using a novel material that traps polysulfides and increases the reaction kinetics.
First fully rechargeable carbon dioxide battery with carbon neutrality
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are the first to show that lithium-carbon dioxide batteries can be designed to operate in a fully rechargeable manner, and they have successfully tested a lithium-carbon dioxide battery prototype running up to 500 consecutive cycles of charge/recharge processes.
End-run Spreads Lithium Throughout Battery Electrodes
Scientists used chemically sensitive X-ray microscopy to map lithium transport during battery operation.