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John O | April 2017

Columbia researchers freeze lithium-ion batteries to make them safer


researchers at the columbia university school of engineering have developed a new method using ice-templating to control the structure of the solid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries to make them safer, bendable, and to increase battery life, according to a report on the school’s website.

 



schematic of vertically aligned and connected ceramic channels for enhancing
ionic conduction. (yuan yang/columbia engineering)

 

the research was performed to find a replacement for the standard liquid electrolyte that has been the subject of numerous stories in recent months because of its potential flammability under thermal runaway conditions.

 

yuan yang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and his team used ice-templating to build vertically-aligned structures of ceramic, solid-state electrolytes.

 

the article explained, “they cooled the aqueous solution with ceramic particles from the bottom and then let ice grow and push away and concentrate the ceramic particles. they then applied a vacuum to transition the solid ice to a gas, leaving a vertically aligned structure. finally, they combined this ceramic structure with polymer to provide mechanical support and flexibility to the electrolyte.”

 

this battery technology could be used in applications ranging from electric vehicles to portable electronics, particularly by increasing battery energy density for transportation and storage.

 

the vertical alignment proved to be a breakthrough for the ceramic electrolyte, according to the researchers, because it provides a “fast highway” for ions to travel.

 

“by using the solid electrolyte,” the article continued, “the lithium battery’s negative electrode, currently a graphite layer, could be replaced by lithium metal, and this could improve the battery’s specific energy by 60% to 70%.”

 

the research was recently published in nano letters. the abstract from the report stated:

 

“replacing flammable organic liquid electrolytes with solid li-ion conductors is a promising approach to realize safe rechargeable batteries with high energy density. composite solid electrolytes, which are comprised of a polymer matrix with ceramic li-ion conductors dispersed inside, are attractive, since they combine the flexibility of polymer electrolytes and high ionic conductivities of ceramic electrolytes.

 

“however, the high conductivity of ceramic fillers is largely compromised by the low conductivity of the matrix, especially when nanoparticles (nps) are used. therefore, optimizations of the geometry of ceramic fillers are critical to further enhance the conductivity of composite electrolytes. here we report the vertically aligned and connected li1+xalxti2–x(po4)3 (latp) nps in the poly(ethylene oxide) (peo) matrix to maximize the ionic conduction, while maintaining the flexibility of the composite.

 

“this vertically aligned structure can be fabricated by an ice-templating-based method, and its conductivity reaches 0.52 × 10–4 s/cm, which is 3.6 times that of the composite electrolyte with randomly dispersed latp nps.

 

“the composite electrolyte also shows enhanced thermal and electrochemical stability compared to the pure peo electrolyte. this method opens a new approach to optimize ion conduction in composite solid electrolytes for next-generation rechargeable batteries.”

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