Toshiba developed ultra-high-speed charge and discharge lithium battery, and the negative electrode uses purple tungsten oxide

At the "2018 Yokohama People's Car Technology Exhibition" that ended not long ago, Toshiba Materials exhibited a lithium-ion battery that uses ultra-fast charging with a negative electrode material using purple tungsten oxide. This battery application range from automotive, micro/light hybrid trains, elevators, uninterruptible power supply UPS to high current power supplies, with obvious application advantages and a wide range of coverage. As a pioneer in the field of lithium-ion battery technology, it is highly probable that the new battery materials will be officially put into commercial use, which may further expand the demand for tungsten oxide.

It is understood that Toshiba Materials developed tungsten oxide powder as the electrode material for new battery equipment, because tungsten oxide contributes to electron conductivity and lithium ion diffusion, achieving ultra-fast charge and discharge. This material enables the construction of high power density battery devices for smaller, lighter devices.

More specific detail is that Toshiba developed a powder material called WO2.72, which is also called purple tungsten oxide in our industry. Purple Tungsten Oxide is a kind of tungsten oxide. Its appearance is purple finely divided crystal powder. It is a tungsten oxide product developed in China in recent years. Its phase composition is W18O49. Due to its largest mesopore volume, the smallest micropores volume, narrowest pore size distribution, minimum fractal dimension, maximum average pore size and specific surface area are the preferred materials for making ultrafine tungsten powder or nano tungsten powder, photocatalytic materials, petroleum catalysts, and microelectronic integrated circuit boards.

The preparation process of purple tungsten oxide mainly includes appropriate direct hydrogen reduction method, hydrogen tungstate reduction method, and appropriate ammonia light reduction method. But Toshiba did not introduce their purple tungsten oxide preparation process. According to the official website of Toshiba Materials, purple tungsten oxide has a very high chemical activity, which can enhance the electron conductivity. Due to the small internal resistance of the material and excellent lithium ion diffusivity, the use of purple tungsten oxide as the battery negative electrode enables high current charging and discharging. In particular, it has excellent discharge characteristics in a low-temperature environment, and has a rate characteristic equal to or higher than that of a double-layer capacitor (EDLC) discharge even at -40°C. Previously, the rate characteristics of Li-ion secondary batteries and Li-ion capacitors at low temperatures have been an unsolved problem.

The battery is characterized by a power density and an energy density that can be increased to two to three times that of a double layer capacitor. Energy density is also improved compared to lithium ion capacitors designed to increase the energy density of EDLC. In the field of capacitors, Li ion secondary batteries are not suitable for high-output applications due to insufficient output power and development difficulties, and the development of this battery will make it possible to use batteries in high-output power applications.

As a leading company in the lithium-ion battery industry, Toshiba hopes to supply the new results as battery materials to other battery manufacturers after exhibiting its newly developed sample batteries at the exhibition. The commercial potential is enormous. If promoted, tungsten materials will no longer be just a bystander in the field of lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.