Development of New technology for Extending the Life of Industrial Lithium-ion Batteries by HITACHI
Like any other new novel technology with a proven concept and then its commercialization, the cost of the development at first is never an issue until it goes through the mass market. Material science by no means is an exception to this theory, where the scientist usually work with a material which speeds up the making of the final product regardless of its cost and its scarcity, and later on move to an alternative substance which provide a cost effective product with same set of features if not better. Lithium-ion battery technology some how follows the same processing path. Today, lithium-ion batteries are in use in a wide array of consumer electronic applications such as mobile phones, Laptop PCs to name a few, as well as hybrid automobiles and other vehicle applications, where in a not so distance future are expected to be used as compact storage devices in connection with wind power generation and other power facilities designed exclusively to contribute in reducing environmental impact. Currently, the main cathode material used in these batteries are cobalt, at least for the consumer applications, which forms the largest market segment for these type of batteries. However, their growing popularity raised a concern in securing a steady supply of cobalt, being a scarce resource. Based on this, Hitachi has turned its attention to an alternative material in replacing cobalt in this type of application.
The alternative metal selected by Hitachi is manganese, which is available in an abundant supply. Hitachi, using the new manganese based cathode materials has successful roughly doubled the life of similar batteries previously developed by Hitachi. The new manganese based cathode material is capable of stabilizing the crystal structure through replacement of some of the manganese in the cathode material with other elements, resulting in successful controlling of reduction in battery capacity. Furthermore, the new manganese based cathode material, includes layered composite oxides which has an outstanding resistance to acids in minimizing elution of manganese into the liquid electrolyte. The new batteries developed based on this technology is expected to be used in electrical power storage in wind power generation as well as industrial power sources for electrical powered construction machinery designed to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
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[...] Hitachi Maxell made an announcement on development and shipment of prismatic lithium ion rechargeable batteries that incorporates a new special silicon negative electrode. The new negative electrode has been developed, using a new nano silicon composite material, where the nano sized silicon particles are dispersed within an ion conductive material. This new next generation negative electrode has resulted in significant improvement in battery capacity, while providing enhanced performance at high duty ratios. The new batteries first to be used in smart phones, where there is a demand for higher capacity batteries, enabling significant improvement in operating period. The new battery features an improved negative electrode discharge capacity of 20% while maintaining a high cycle life performance similar to current Maxell lithium ion rechargeable batteries. Additionally, use of silicon on these new batteries increased the amount of lithium ions per element to 4.4 lithium ions per element in comparison to only 1 lithium ion per 6 elements, resulting in approximately 10 times the capacity per weight. Finally, by dispersing nano-sized silicon in amorphous (non-crystallized) form, the company has succeeded in reducing the charge in volume of silicon over repeated charge/discharge cycles. The higher capacity and reduced size on lithium ion batteries is a good news for consumers and alike, but at the same time is a burden for many when shipping their lithium equipped digital devices, in light of new legislation for shipping the lithium ion batteries internationally, or domestically via Air. Share and Enjoy: [...]