This group brings together the best thinkers on energy and climate. Join us for smart, insightful posts and conversations about where the energy industry is and where it is going.

Publication

Solid State Battery Breakthrough

image credit: mit.edu

John Benson 372,296

Senior Consultant, Microgrid Labs

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Microgrid Labs, Inc. Advisor: 2014 to Present Developed product plans, conceptual and preliminary designs for projects, performed industry surveys and developed...

Member since 2013
1,158 items added with 748,016 views

Contact

Profile

Dec 22, 2022Dec 22, 2022 3:39 pm GMT
837 views

Access Publication

Lithium-ion designs that are currently used in EVs use a lithium compound for the cathode, graphite for the anode and a liquid electrolyte. About ten years ago several companies started working on an anode that was made from metallic lithium (rather than a lithium compound as is used in the cathode) and also used a solid-state separator (rather than a liquid electrolyte).

For the last five years these have been the wave of the future. However, there is a problem with these batteries that, to date, no one has been able to solve: dendrites (metal whiskers). The dendrites formed on the metallic lithium anode and eventually pierced through the separator to the cathode, shorting the battery.

Researchers at MIT recently discovered the cause and a potential cure for the dendrite-formation via a major research project. This paper is about the project and possible dendrite problem cure.

Discussions

Sign in to Participate

Julian Silk on Dec 23, 2022

It's good that they found this, and thank you for posting. But before being carried away, it would be very helpful to know what materials will be used in the "doping" to make the batteries "permanently stressed". Those materials may be expensive.

John Benson on Dec 23, 2022

Thanks for the comment / question, Julian.

Reading on in that paragraph, since "This is the same method used to produce the super-hard glass used in the screens of smart phones and tablets," I would assume that it is reasonably inexpensive. Otherwise, I know very little about molecular physics, and thus the particular materials that would be used.

-John

Julian Silk on Dec 25, 2022

Thanks, John. This isn't the best guess, but see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass. There are minerals used, but they may not be expensive, so you may be right.

Thank John for the Post!

Energy Central contributors share their experience and insights for the benefit of other Members (like you). Please show them your appreciation by leaving a comment, 'liking' this post, or following this Member.

Follow Profile

This is one area of clean energy that we don’t want to grow.

How has the clean energy movement become like the Blob? Not in the way you may think.

UK | Hydrogen Storage

IATA | Aviation Net-Zero CO2 Transition Pathways

Fuel Cell Power Generation | NASA

Get Published - Build a Following

The Energy Central Power Industry Network® is based on one core idea - power industry professionals helping each other and advancing the industry by sharing and learning from each other.

If you have an experience or insight to share or have learned something from a conference or seminar, your peers and colleagues on Energy Central want to hear about it. It's also easy to share a link to an article you've liked or an industry resource that you think would be helpful.

Start a Post » Learn more about posting on Energy Central »