Engineers at Rice University may have found a way to make lithium-ion batteries even more efficient. According to reports, researchers developed the advanced “prelithiation” technique, a process that helps reduce lithium loss and improves a battery’s life cycle. With this new method, the battery life of phones, tablets and other lithium-ion battery devices will increase.
With the new method, the battery life of technological devices will increase
In the optimized prelithiation technique, the process is based on coating the silicon anodes with a more stable lithium metal particle. The development was done by a chemical and biomolecular engineer in the Rice lab spraying a coat of the particle mixture onto the anodes.
Engineer Sibani Lisa Biswal found that spraying the anodes down improves battery life by 22 to 44 percent. Also, battery cells with a greater amount of coating can achieve higher efficiency. This development is truly huge and could completely change the way we use battery powered objects in our daily lives.
Phones, smartwatches, and various other battery-powered products rely on lithium-powered batteries to generate the electricity they need. If the operating efficiency of these lithium batteries can be increased by repelling these particles, battery life can be improved in many areas. If this development is accepted by the manufacturers, the battery life of smartphones, which is one of the most anticipated situations, will increase.
Although it has so many advantages, it is not without its disadvantages. When operated at full capacity (charged to 100 percent), the batteries actually started to drain faster with the particles on them in subsequent cycles. Of course, other improvements can also help make batteries more efficient. Replacing the graphite in lithium-ion batteries with silicon provides a better energy density.
But like the new particle spray that improves the efficiency of lithium-ion batteries, silicon in batteries also has some downsides. The big problem here is that silicon can form solid electrolyte interphase, which actually consumes lithium and therefore quickly depletes the battery. But if this problem can be overcome, the use of silicon in these new particle and lithium-ion batteries could lead to longer-lasting and more reliable batteries.
So what do you think about this news? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments section.