Graphene batteries are being hyped by experts as a 'hoax'

Despite the growing promise of graphene, the concept of "graphene batteries" is increasingly being debated in the industry.

On November 26, 2015, graphene researchers around the world might be surprised to see this tweet.

Huawei released a new mobile phone on the same day, Sina weibo "huawei Mate8" said that the highlight of the event is "support fast charging, longer battery life".

Graphene batteries, a concept that has been hyped up in recent years, look set to make their debut as an industrial product. However, it was met with a barrage of media questioning, which was regarded as a naked hype.

This is just one aspect of the "graphene battery" craze. In recent years, graphene has become a hot industry for local governments and companies, defined by the Nobel Prize in physics as a new generation of materials. Due to graphene's excellent electrical conductivity and other properties, the field of energy storage has become one of its main applications, thus "graphene battery" has entered the altar.

"The energy density is significantly improved", "the charging speed is 1000 times that of ordinary batteries", "it can run 1000 kilometers in 10 minutes of charging"... A simple search on the Internet brings up a dizzying array of introductions that can upend tradition. The most direct impact on the general public is that, when applied to a smart phone, "charging for 5 minutes, you can talk for 10 hours" "the battery life will be more than 10 times of the ordinary battery"... Smartphone chargers will be a thing of the past.

The "graphene battery" concept is gaining momentum in the capital markets.

On August 11, 2015, jiangsu delayhome announced to invest in graphene super lithium battery and other projects. After drawing a blueprint of "annual revenue increased by 2.8 billion yuan, annual net profit increased by 450 million yuan", the listed company changed its name to "delayfuture".

With the concept of a graphene battery, del's future stock price has rocketed, rising 158.4 percent in just over two months.

Like del's future, stocks influenced by the graphene concept have rallied. As recently as November 30, a-share graphene concept stocks once again shine, several concept stocks realized the limit.

But just like Huawei's new phone, the industry has been full of doubts about the "graphene battery", even some industry experts called it a "hoax".

Experts shelling

Li yichun, secretary-general of the strategic alliance for technological innovation in China's graphene industry, has been busy lately. On the official website, he would go to investigate a place every few days. Through the resources of graphene alliance, he would cooperate with the local government to build a graphene industrial zone and make the graphene industry flourish all over the country.

The latest information is that on November 14, 2015, li yichun came to dezhou, Shandong province, where some battery companies offered an olive branch to establish the "graphene applied technology research institute" with the graphene alliance.

But despite the growing promise of graphene, 'graphene batteries' are increasingly the subject of industry debate.

"A few years ago, when nanomaterials were hot, many concepts of 'nanometer +' appeared in China, such as nanometer washing machine and nanometer steamed bread. Qi lu, a professor at the school of chemistry and molecular engineering at Peking University, clearly felt that "graphene batteries" had been so hyped up in recent years that meetings were often held to discuss them. Lu is also known as the main founder of lithium cobalt oxide and lithium manganese oxide battery anode materials in China.

After the hype, Huawei responded to southern weekend's question: "Mate8 does not use graphene batteries. There's research, but it's not going to be used in products that fast."

Under the spotlight, the concept of a graphene battery is vague.

"The definition of a 'graphene battery' for external heat transfer is a battery with graphene added to the electrode material, which is clearly misleading." On Nov. 24, an article by liu guanwei, an energy Internet researcher at tsinghua university, questioning "graphene batteries" went viral.

According to the classical electrochemical nomenclature, the lithium ion battery used in ordinary smart phones should be named "lithium cobalt-graphite battery". It is called a "lithium ion battery" because lithium ions play a major role in it.

"Strictly speaking, graphene is used as an aid in batteries, so you can't just call a battery that USES graphene a 'graphene battery.'" Hong na new materials technology co. LTD. Chairman li qi said.

Currently, only graphene is used as a "conductive additive" in lithium batteries. But even "additive" type application, also quite much doubt.

"Graphene can be used as a conductive agent to facilitate the rapid charging and discharge of lithium batteries. In theory, it can improve the multiplier performance. "In addition, there are a lot of good and inexpensive materials out there, so you don't have to use expensive graphene. Liu guanwei said in the above article.

"Can anyone come up with the Numbers now? Who made such a battery? "Lu asked.

"Both the positive and negative poles of lithium batteries are layered structures, so migration from the positive to the negative can only be formed under certain external conditions. "Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms in a ring structure, which is determined by its own chemical and physical properties. "Graphene is a material that conducts electrons very well, but lithium batteries don't need electrons to conduct electricity, they need ions to conduct electricity," he added.

In addition to the lithium battery application that attracts the most attention, graphene can also be applied in many other fields. It can be used to make "graphene composite electrode materials". Some people even predict that batteries using graphene will replace the traditional lithium battery and lead the new energy electric vehicles into a new era.

"Although the industry is controversial, but technological innovation, anything can happen, some experts think impossible, a lot of things have been achieved, some experts are too arbitrary, but we should have an open mind. Li yichun thinks.

The road to industry is long.

While companies and places are getting into graphene, there are no "graphene batteries" that can be mass-produced. Domestic enterprises are mainly involved in "graphene lithium battery conductive agent" and other fields.

At present, there are not many domestic enterprises that have developed "graphene lithium battery conductive agent", among which Dongguan Hongna and Shenzhen Beitui new energy materials co., ltd. are the two largest ones.

Lu tao, marketing director of dongguan hongna, told the global times that there are not many companies in this industry at present, and the output value of this industry is hard to say. If graphene can replace traditional materials such as carbon black and carbon pipe, the market capacity of graphene is not small, with an estimated output value of several billion yuan.

Both companies have graphene products in the testing phase, according to interviews and public information. Shenzhen beitri did not respond to an interview about the graphene conducting fluid and the hype surrounding the concept of "graphene batteries".

In addition to lithium batteries, the current market for hot graphene can be used in solar cells. Changzhou two-dimensional carbon science and technology co., ltd. said in its prospectus for listing on the new third board in September 2015 that the company has strengthened "research and reserve in graphene flexible solar cells and other application fields."

The principles of the "graphene flexible solar cell" are not detailed in the prospectus. "This is a very difficult and complex technology," said jin hu, President of two-dimensional carbon.

'at present, it is only a technical reserve, and there are many things to verify. For example, the actual working time requirement of solar cells is 20 years, so the verification period is very long, so it is far from the stage of industrial application.'

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