Engineers and scientists are working hard to make better batteries for electronics.
One type of battery they’re focusing on is the lithium metal battery.
Lithium metal batteries have been around for many years. These batteries are special because they have a part called an “anode” that’s made out of metallic lithium.
Scientists are trying to make these batteries work better by using very small engineering techniques and different types of substances called “electrolytes”. Better electrolytes could make these batteries more stable and last longer.
The New Strategy from Stanford University
Scientists from Stanford University have come up with a new way to design better electrolytes for lithium metal batteries.
They’ve written a paper about it in the Nature Energy journal. They found electrolytes that can improve how well these batteries work, especially when they’re being used a lot.
Recently, there have been some improvements in electrolytes that have made batteries work better over a longer period of time. But, making these electrolytes conduct electricity better has been a problem.
The scientists reported that they’ve come up with a new way to design electrolytes that make the batteries work better without making them less stable.
The goal of the Stanford team was to design electrolytes that can move ions better without making the batteries less stable.
To do this, they used a strategy to change the structures of the solvents in the electrolytes, which have a lot of ion clusters in them.
How The New Strategy Works
To test their strategy, the scientists used X-ray scattering techniques and ran computer simulations.
This helped them find out what makes electrolytes good for lithium metal batteries, both in terms of stability and how well they conduct electricity.
They discovered that, in certain electrolytes, the new strategy reduces ion clustering while keeping the typical anion-rich structures.
Electrolytes that have smaller-sized clusters are two times better at conducting electricity compared to usual electrolytes. This makes the battery work better, even at high current densities.
The new approach could help make a range of better electrolytes for lithium metal batteries.
This could improve their performance, which is important because these batteries are used in many different types of electronics, like electric or hybrid cars, medical equipment, and advanced technologies.
The scientists believe that their work could encourage others to develop these improved electrolytes, which could make lithium metal batteries more practical for various applications.
The study was published in Nature Energy.
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