Graphene batteries are controversial.

Although graphene's application prospects are increasingly optimistic, the concept of "graphene batteries" has gradually become the object of debate in the industry.

On November 26, 2015, graphene researchers around the world would be surprised if they saw the microblog.

Huawei released a new mobile phone on the same day, and Sina Weibo's "Huawei Mate8" said that the highlight of the conference was "supporting fast charging and longer range(using new graphene batteries)".

The concept of "graphene batteries", which has been heated up in recent years, seems to be making its debut as an industrial product. However, it was the media who greeted it with a face full of doubts and was considered to be a naked hype.

This is only one scene in the "graphene battery" boom. In recent years, graphene has become an industry that local governments and companies are keen to engage in. Under the halo of the Nobel Prize in physics, it is defined as a new generation of materials. Due to the excellent electrical conductivity of graphene, the energy storage field has become one of its main applications, and "graphene batteries" have thus embarked on the altar.

"Energy density is significantly increased", "charging speed is 1000 times that of ordinary batteries", "charging can be 1000 kilometers in 10 minutes" ... A simple search on the Internet can produce many dazzling introductions, enough to subvert tradition. The most immediate effect on the general public is that on smartphones, "charging for 5 minutes, talking for 10 hours", "endurance will be more than 10 times that of ordinary batteries" ... Smartphones will become history every day.

The wind of the "graphene battery" concept is stronger in capital markets.

Graphene batteries

On August 11, 2015, the company in Jiangsu Province announced its investment in graphene Super lithium batteries and other projects. After depicting a blueprint of "annual revenue increase of 2.8 billion yuan and annual net profit increase of 450 million yuan", the listed company changed its name. Changed its name to "Del Future."

With the concept of "graphene batteries", the future stock price of Dell is like a rocket, rising 158.4 % in more than two months.

Similar to the future of Del, stocks affected by the graphene concept have risen dramatically. On the latest November 30th, A-shares graphene concept stocks once again shine, and several concept stocks have reached a fluctuation.

But as with Huawei's new mobile phone, the industry's doubts about "graphene batteries" have been heard, and some industry experts have even called it a "scam."

Expert shelling

As the secretary general of the "China Graphene Industrial Technological Innovation Strategic Alliance"(hereinafter referred to as the Graphene Alliance), Liyichun has been busy lately. On the official website, he will study every few days to build a graphene industry area through the resources of the graphene alliance and cooperate with the local government to make the graphene industry bloom throughout the country.

The latest piece of information is that on November 14, 2015, Liyichun came to Texas, Shandong Province, where a battery company has thrown an olive branch in an attempt to build a "graphene application technology research institute" with the graphene alliance.

However, although graphene's application prospects are increasingly optimistic, "graphene batteries" have gradually become the object of debate in the industry.

"In the past few years, when nanomaterials were fried, there were many concepts of 'nanometer +' in China, such as nanometer washing machines and nanometer steamed buns. This time, the 'graphene battery' is the same, and some people are speculating in stocks. "Lu Lu, a professor at the School of Chemical and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, clearly felt that" graphene batteries "have been fried very hot in recent years and people have discussed it frequently. Lu is also known as the main founder of lithium cobalt acid and lithium manganese acid batteries in China.

After the hype, Huawei official replied to the Southern Weekend reporter: "Mate 8 is not using graphene batteries. (Graphene Battery) There is research, but it will not be used in products so quickly. "

Under the magnesium lamp, the concept of "graphene battery" is ambiguous.

"The definition of 'graphene batteries' that are externally transmitted is that graphene cells are added to electrode materials. This explanation is obviously misleading. On November 24, Liuguanwei, a Tsinghua Energy Internet researcher, questioned the article "Graphene Battery" on the Internet.

According to the classic electrochemical nomenclature, lithium-ion batteries used in smart phones should be named "lithium-cobalt acid batteries." The reason why it is called "lithium ion battery" is because lithium ions play a major role in it.

"Strictly speaking, graphene is only used as an auxiliary function in batteries, so graphene batteries can not be directly referred to as 'graphene batteries'. "Hong Na(Dongguan) New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Dongguan Hongna) Chairman Liqi said.

According to reports, only graphene is used as a "conductive additive" in lithium batteries. However, even the application of "additives" has been questioned.

"Graphene can be used as a conductive agent to promote the rapid charging of lithium batteries. In theory, it can improve the performance of the doubling rate. However, if the dispersion process is not in place, the mixing material is uneven, and everything is in the air. In addition, there are many inexpensive materials at present, and expensive graphene does not necessarily have to be used. "Liuguanwei said in the above article.

"Can anyone come up with data now? Who makes batteries like this? " asked Qi Lu.

"The positive and negative poles of lithium batteries are the structures of layered objects. Therefore, under certain external conditions, the migration from positive to negative poles can be formed. Graphene is a single-layer carbon atomic ring structure, which is determined by its own chemical physics and does not form a separate negative material for lithium batteries. He further added: "Graphene is a material with strong electrical conductivity of electrons, but what lithium batteries need is not electrical conductivity of electrons, it needs Ionic conductivity. "

In addition to the most concerned lithium battery applications, graphene can also be applied to many other fields: "graphene composite electrode materials" can be produced, and it has even been predicted that graphene batteries will replace traditional lithium batteries and lead new energy electric vehicles. Enter a new era.

"Although the industry is controversial, but technological innovation, anything can happen. Some experts think that impossible things have been achieved. Some experts are too arbitrary, but we must have an open mind. "Liyichun thinks.

Industrial road is long

Although many companies and places have been involved in the graphene field, there is currently no "graphene battery" that has been mass-produced. Domestic companies mainly involve "graphene lithium battery conductive agent" and other fields.

At present, there are not many companies with a domestic layout of "graphene lithium battery conductivity". Dongguan Hongna and Shenzhen Beiterui New Energy Materials Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Shenzhen Beit Rui) are among the larger ones.

Lvtao, director of marketing at Dongguan hongna, told Southern weekend that there are not many companies in the domestic layout of this industry. The output value of this industry is difficult to say. If graphene can replace traditional carbon black and carbon pipes and other materials, graphene market capacity is also Not small, it is estimated that there are billions of yuan in output value.

According to interviews and public information, both companies have graphene products in the testing phase. The company did not reply to an interview with Southern Weekend reporter about graphene conductive fluids and the concept of "graphene batteries."

In addition to being used in lithium batteries, hot fried graphene is currently available for application in solar cells. Changzhou 2D Carbon Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as 2D Carbon) stated in its new three-board listing transfer manual in September 2015 that the company has strengthened "research and reserve in applications such as graphene flexible solar cells."

For the principle called "graphene flexible solar cell", the transfer manual is not detailed. "This is a very difficult and complex technology. Our technical team has more than 40 people, and it has not yet been launched. It is still in the development stage of technology reserves," Jin Hu, president of two-dimensional carbon, told Southern Weekend. "

At the moment, says Kim, it is just a technical reserve, and there are many things to verify. For example, the actual working time requirement for solar cells is 20 years. The verification period is very long, so it is far from the stage of industrial application.

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