Scientists have invented self-healing battery electrodes that need less charging time.
Researchers from Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have come together to create a battery electrode that heals itself, which basically implies that lithium-ion batteries used in cellphones, cars and other devices may have a longer life.
The researchers have developed a way that can seal cracks that take place on lithium ion batteries over time. Batteries usually deteriorate because of electrodes swelling and shrinking every time they get charged and discharged. This, in turn, makes the material brittle and crack.
This next-gen battery that has been developed by the scientists has a new coating which will make it possible to "self-heal" and, in turn, have a longer life span.
According to the press release, the new batteries will work by using a "stretchy polymer (a gooey substance) that coats the electrode, binds it and spontaneously heals tiny cracks that develop."
"Self-healing is very important for the survival and long lifetimes of animals and plants," said Chao Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford and one of the two principal authors of the paper. "We want to incorporate this feature into lithium ion batteries so they will have a long lifetime as well
The self-healing polymer was developed by Wang in the lab of Zhenan Bao, who is a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford.
Usually, lithium ion batteries deploy carbon electrodes on their positive side known as an anode. However, silicon electrodes have the ability to store 10 times more lithium, which basically means longer battery life.
"We found that silicon electrodes lasted 10 times longer when coated with the self-healing polymer, which repaired any cracks within just a few hours," said Bao.
"Their capacity for storing energy is in the practical range now, but we would certainly like to push that," said Yi Cui, an associate professor at SLAC and Stanford, who led the research with Bao.
The electrodes reportedly worked for about 100 charge/discharge cycles without losing the energy storage capacity drastically.
"That's still quite a way from the goal of about 500 cycles for cell phones and 3,000 cycles for an electric vehicle," Cui said, "but the promise is there, and from all our data it looks like it's working."
