Polymer sandwich current collector increases battery density and extinguishes fire

Battery researchers are continually experimenting with alternative materials to improve performance, claiming that a group from Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has landed on the winner. The team has redesigned the lithium-ion battery’s current collectors to be significantly lighter, not only for efficiency, but also for fire resistance.

Lithium-ion batteries have a pair of current collectors that work together with the device’s two electrodes to distribute current flowing in either direction. Today’s current collectors are usually made of sheets of copper or aluminum foil, making them one of the heaviest components of batteries and can even make up 50% of the total weight of the device.

Therefore, creating these components and reducing the weight of the battery itself will significantly improve performance. This allows more energy to be stored per unit weight, reducing the load that electric vehicles need to carry. For example, each time you charge it, you can move farther.

Earlier approaches to this problem included fine-tuning the current collector to be more porous or thinner as a way to reduce weight. However, they result in batteries that are more fragile, chemically unstable, or need to be compensated for by adding more electrolyte material, which makes them more expensive.

A team from Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory was completely experimenting with another material, a lightweight polymer called polyimide. It was integrated with a flame retardant called triphenyl phosphate (TPP) and the material was coated with a very thin copper sheet on both sides.

Yusheng Ye / Stanford University

This sandwich design reduces the weight of the current collector by 80% compared to the regular design. In terms of energy density, the team calculates that this translates into a profit of 16 to 26 percent.

“Current collectors are always considered their own weight and have not been successfully used to improve battery performance,” said SLAC and Stanford professor at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES). Said Yi Cui. ) Who led the research? “But in our study, 80% lighter collectors increased the energy density of lithium-ion batteries (how much energy can be stored at a given weight) by 16-26%. This is a huge leap compared to an average increase of 3%. It has been achieved in recent years. “

Copper sheets can also distribute current in the same way as regular current collectors, while protecting the polymer and flame retardants.

The team then conducted several experiments to assess the flammability of the battery, along with experiments with current collectors on the market today. Both types of devices were exposed to open flames, and today’s designs ignited and remained lit until the electrolyte was completely burned out. Meanwhile, the fire couldn’t really catch up with the new design, and the flame went out within seconds.

With patent applications already filed with current collectors, researchers are now hoping to work with battery makers to incorporate them into next-generation designs. The advantage to them is the fact that collectors are easy and cheap to manufacture. Therefore, according to Senior Researcher Yi Cui, scaling up to commercial production “should be very feasible.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Energy.

Source: National Accelerator Research Institute

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