The lithium-oxygen battery has 10 times the energy density of the lithium-ion batteries now used, meaning the battery technology would allow vehicles to approach similar range and usability as a conventional internal combustion engine.
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Scientists have created an incredible lithium-oxygen battery that is extremely energy dense, can be recharged more then 2000 times, and is 90 percent more efficient than current models.
Cambridge University is planning to commercialise a new lithium-oxygen battery after developing a promising lab-based prototype. The researchers pointed out they still have a long way to go in part of the limited capability to charge and discharge and practical lithium-oxygen batteries were most likely at least a decade away.
Chemical engineers at the University of Cambridge said their “breathing” battery was the first of its type to last more than a few charge cycles.
The porous graphene electrode gives this design comparable efficiency to a lithium-ion battery, and also greatly increases the battery’s capacity, albeit only at certain very specific rates of charge and discharge.
Professor Clare Grey of the university’s chemistry department said: “What we’ve achieved is a significant advance for this technology and suggests while new areas for research, we haven’t solved all the problems inherent to this chemistry, but our results do show routes forward towards a practical device”.
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This means a future with electric cars that can travel 400 miles without recharging, and carrying batteries far lighter than those now on the market. Lithium-air batteries can theoretically pack far more power than zinc air batteries. The new development, however, employs different chemistry- it has an electrode made of graphene, and uses lithium hydroxide instead of the old lithium peroxide. Smartphones and laptops with lithium-air batteries at current lithium-ion weights and sizes wouldn’t need an asterisk to claim “All day” operation. Other issues that still have to be addressed include finding a way to protect the metal electrode so that it doesn’t form spindly lithium metal fibers known as dendrites, which can cause batteries to explode if they grow too much and short-circuit the battery.
