A battery breakthrough in Sweden has the potential to change the world.
Chalmers University of Technology's latest structural battery could revamp technology from laptops to electric vehicles.
"We have succeeded in creating a battery made of carbon fiber composite that is as stiff as aluminum and energy-dense enough to be used commercially. Just like a human skeleton, the battery has several functions at the same time," Chalmers researcher and first author of the study Richa Chaudhary said in a news release.
The breakthrough promises to increase EV driving range by 70%, halve the weight of laptops, and make smartphones as thin as credit cards.
The battery is a composite material with carbon fiber electrodes; the positive one is covered in lithium iron phosphate. In the anode, the carbon fiber is a reinforcement, an electrical collector, and an active material. In the cathode, it is a reinforcement, current collector, and scaffolding for the lithium.
The design helps reduce fire risk but doesn't produce much power with its semi-solid electrolyte. This is what the researchers will look to improve.
Chalmers has been working on structural batteries for years, partnering at times with KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The researchers' last development in 2021 produced a battery with an energy density of 24 watt-hours per kilogram, which amounts to 20% of the capacity of a lithium-ion battery. This battery comes in at 30 watt-hours per kilogram.
"While this is still lower than today's batteries, the conditions are quite different," the release stated. "When the battery is part of the construction and can also be made of a lightweight material, the overall weight of the vehicle is greatly reduced. Then not nearly as much energy is required to run an electric car, for example."
It's also nearly three times stronger than a previous version. This, combined with its light weight, means the weight of whatever is being produced with the battery will be much lower. In turn, an EV, for example, will not need as much energy as it previously did to get where it's going.
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"In terms of multifunctional properties, the new battery is twice as good as its predecessor — and actually the best ever made in the world," lead researcher Leif Asp said per the news release.
Asp added that "the technology could make the most difference" in the transportation industry but that it would take "large investments" for cars' or planes' electronics to be powered by structural batteries.
The widespread adoption of EVs — by reducing the burning of dirty gasoline and diesel fuel — would make a significant impact on human health and slow the warming of the planet. Air pollution causes 3.2 million premature deaths around the world each year, and traveling accounts for about 25% of the heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere.
This structural battery would also cut into the mining of copper, aluminum, cobalt, manganese, and more, which results in human rights violations and the use of precious resources such as water.
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