Technology
The present cathode
of lithium-ion battery contains such rare metals as cobalt and nickel. It is
urgent need to develop a technology to eliminate the content of rare earthes in
view of the unstable supply and exorbitant prices of rare earthes. A research
team led by Professor Itaru Honma of Tohoku University developed a rare
metal-free cathode of lithium-ion battery, and the new cathode has two times
bigger capacity than the existing cathode. Although the trial lithium-ion
battery that employed the new cathode is as small as a button at the present
stage, it attracts wide attention as the second battery of electric vehicles.
The research team
used an organic material that is one-fifth in price of the present material.
They created a material that contains silica particles of 6 nanometers each and
used it as the solid electrolyte to prevent organic particles from dissolving.
They build a lithium-ion battery of a button size using this cathode and
examined the performance. They confirmed that the energy density, which means
storage capacity, is 200 watts per kg, about two times higher than that of the
present lithium-ion battery and that it can maintain the original performance
even after more than 100 times of discharge and charge. They plan to explore an
organic material that has a higher capacity of storing electrons to increase
the battery capacity. The research results were published in the June 13 issue of Scientific Reports, a British science magazine.
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