16340 battery

Swedish scientists develop "massless" structural 16340 battery with 10 times better performance

(Shanghai, editor Huang Junzhi) News, in today's electric vehicles or electronic devices, the battery accounts for a large part of the weight of the device, but does not have any load-bearing function. Therefore, scientists have been exploring an alternative method to replace traditional energy storage methods and believe that this will be a major breakthrough.

Recently, Chalmers University of Technology demonstrated a new type of "massless" battery that can be used as both a power source and a structural component of the car. It is called "massless" because, essentially, when the battery becomes part of the load-bearing structure, its weight disappears. Calculations show that this multifunctional battery can greatly reduce the weight of electric vehicles.

In 2018, scientists published a study describing a form of carbon fiber with the right crystal arrangement that can supply both the stiffness required for the car structure and the electrochemical properties required to store energy. As part of an effort to translate this research into real-world applications, the research team at Chalmers University of Technology produced a carbon fiber structural battery.

The researchers say the performance of this structural battery is ten times better than all previous models. And because carbon fiber is the key pillar of this research, this "massless" battery can serve as an electrode, conductor and load-bearing material at the same time.

It is understood that the battery consists of a negative electrode made of carbon fiber and a positive electrode made of aluminum foil coated with lithium phosphate. They are separated by glass fiber fabric, which serves as a structural electrolyte matrix, which can not only transmit lithium ions between electrodes like traditional 16340 battery, but also help to distribute mechanical loads to different parts of the structure.

Although this "massless" energy storage device is indeed different from traditional 16340 battery and will not add any additional weight to the vehicle (at least in theory), the researchers say that this does involve some compromises. For example, the energy density of this battery is 24Wh/kg, which the team points out is about 20% of the capacity of current lithium 16340 battery.

However, on the other hand, if this battery is integrated into an electric car to replace a typical lithium battery, the weight of the car will be much lighter, so less energy will be required to propel it on the ground. As for its mechanical properties, the team says the material has a stiffness of 25GPa, which is competitive with other commonly used building materials.

"Previous attempts to make structural 16340 battery have either made the battery good mechanically or good electrically," said Leif Asp, who led the project. "But here, using carbon fiber, we have succeeded in designing a structural battery with competitive energy storage capacity and rigidity."

The researchers say the new design offers a tenfold improvement over previous structural 16340 battery, but they are quickly turning their attention to higher goals. The next stage of their research is to replace the aluminum in the positive electrode with carbon fiber to further improve energy and mechanical properties, while the glass fiber fabric will be replaced by a thinner version to facilitate faster charging.

Asp speculates that the battery could offer an energy density of up to 75Wh/kg and a stiffness of 75GPa, making it as strong as aluminum but much lighter. The possibilities around electric vehicles and even consumer electronics will then become very exciting.

"The next generation of structural 16340 battery has huge potential," he added. "If you look at consumer technology, it's quite possible that within a few years we could have a smartphone, a laptop or an electric bicycle that weighs half as much as it does today and is much smaller."

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