The reasons of why lithium battery technology is difficult to break through

In September 2014, the company released a new generation of the iPhone. Similar to the previous generations of products, this is the latest smart devices with processors and graphics chips, and significantly enhances the performance. However, Apple and other mobile phone makers have never mentioned in the conference that one of the components doesn't change for many years. That is the lithium battery. All electronic equipment including smartphones, tablets, and Tesla electric vehicles use lithium battery techniques, which is the same as the first commercial lithium ion batteries published by SONY in 1991.

In the past 23 years, people are not without innovation, researchers around the world have never given up research and development of new battery technologies. Is a series of breakthroughs were made in 2014, the charging efficiency, battery capacity, heating cooling, etc., traditional lithium-ion batteries have played more and more good, a lot of new battery technology seems to have seen the light.

But until now, the time of the battery are still hard to let a person satisfied, battery technology is still the biggest bottleneck, all electronic equipment evolution and from the point of view of industrialization, battery technology from the revolutionary breakthrough, there are still a lot of distance.

You cannot have your cake and eat it

Why battery technology is hard to appear breakthrough? Main force lithium ion battery, what's the problem?

Lithium atomic number is 3, which means that there are three protons, it is the lightest of alkali metal elements, which makes it become one of the most known material suitable for the preparation of portable battery anode materials.

Of course, in addition to lithium, lithium battery includes phosphoric acid iron, manganese, graphite, titanate and other metal and non-metallic materials. Compared to earlier nickel batteries, lithium batteries are smaller, lighter, higher energy density, took less than 15 years for nickel batteries, battery technology become the mainstream of electronic equipment.

But it also exists some problems, the mainest is hot. Lithium battery charge and discharge process, in the high density of inside space can produce a lot of heat.

For smartphones and other small electronic devices, due to capacity limits, fever is not big trouble, rely on the inside of the mobile phone design can solve the problem of heat dissipation of thermal conductivity, but for the tesla electric cars this chassis covered with thousands of lithium-ion battery big guy, you must take the corresponding cooling measures.

That is why almost all electric car or hybrid cars lithium battery pack, come with huge volume of liquid cooling equipment, but even so, some of the electric vehicle battery explosion accident of the fire or sometimes appear.

The number of lithium ion in the lithium battery is fixed, want to have longer battery life, it is necessary to increase the quantity of batteries, but it means a heavy equipment, thermal explosion greater calorific value and higher possibility. If want to safer or more portable, you have to sacrifice the battery quantity and use time.

Change of lithium battery

Along this train of thought, the researchers thought that the direction of a breakthrough, is the search for more safety, higher energy density materials, change of lithium battery.

Air is likely to become one of the better choice, not long ago, an Israeli technology company has developed using aluminum and air as a new type of battery electrode, the battery can take advantage of the water molecules in the air and aluminum react and discharge.

In fact, this kind of metal - air battery technology has appeared in the early 1960 s, its principle is based on 99.9% of high purity aluminum anode, water molecules of oxygen to the cathode and using aqueous solution as electrolyte, aluminum plate to absorb oxygen, complete discharge process.

In the chemical process, the final product is aluminum hydroxide, so this kind of battery technology looks more safe, more stable and aluminum - air battery energy density is much higher than the quality of lithium batteries, such as theoretical energy density can reach 8.1 KWH/kg.The tesla electric vehicles used by the high-energy lithium-ion batteries, the energy density is only about 0.3 KWH/kg.

Another equally popular in the field of battery technology breakthrough ideas is that if you can't change of lithium battery, then in a way of charging.

At present most want to be popular alternative charging ways, is a wireless power supply technology.Please note that this is not the early years of mobile phone manufacturers to launch with a tray of wireless charging mobile phone, but more efficient wireless power supply technology.

If in principle, wireless charging and wireless power supply is not big difference, both are using the electromagnetic induction, resonance or coupling principle.Originally it originated in the 1890 s father nikola tesla's ideas of alternating current (ac), he put forward can use magnetic resonance between the charger and equipment of the air transport charge, the coil and capacitor between the charger and equipment in the formation of resonance, so as to realize the efficient transmission of electricity.

Image point, and soprano singer might take some of the same vibration frequency glass singing is a truth, but not the electronic equipment electromagnetic induction and resonance blast.

Compared with wireless charging, the advantage of the wireless power supply is to breakthrough the limitation of the distance.The transmitter solution, a company is doing the furthest distance in power transmission can reach 10 meters.

Although compared and often hundreds of meters of wireless network, wireless power transmission distance and some short, but at least at the technical level, wireless power supply, has been regarded as out of the first step.

A bigger problem

So, why people don't see something similar to the wireless network in airport, hotel or coffee shop in the wireless power supply hot?

In fact, the biggest obstacle to the popularization of the wireless power supply, not long transmission distance is not enough and other technical problems, but the various kinds of electronic equipment on the market of wireless power supply standard compatible problem, which is beyond the scope of scientific research personnel control.

Like a soprano singer, for example, if the vibration frequency of the cup is different, want to all glass can be sing detonation is impossible.

However, more than 2008 international companies and associations of the industry, and has set up a wireless power transmission international standard alliance, committed to the technical standard of unified wireless power supply, said members of the union of a Chinese company, has a similar to the WiFi unified time should not be too far away.

In contrast, replace the new battery technology scheme of lithium-ion batteries will be much more difficult.Most promising metal - air battery technology there are still many practical problems need to solve, such as, in use process need to add water into the battery pack, and it is not rechargeable batteries, aluminum plate completely after oxidation aluminium hydroxide, it must to change the aluminum plate.

This will undoubtedly increase the cost and prevent metal - air battery technology in use, but the good news is that the researchers are now trying to extend aluminum oxidation reaction time, reduce the cost of aluminum recycling to commercialise the technology as soon as possible.

Mott Caitlin University engineering science center researcher Kevin thinks that even if the technical level has reached commercial requirements, it need a long time to make them into finished product that has large-scale application of the electronic equipment. If there is no special triggers the onset, it is hard to see real mature revolutionary battery technology in at least recent five years.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.