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Researchers Develop Solid But Flexible Electrolyte For Bendable Batteries
hypnosec writes "Korean scientists have developed a 'fluid-like' polymer electrolyte used in lithium-ion batteries that would pave way for flexible batteries and flexible smartphones. The discovery was made by a joint team of researchers that was led by Professor Lee Sang-young of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. The new electrolyte, though flexible, is made of solid materials hence making the batteries more stable than the lithium-ion batteries used today."
Paper, but full text is paywalled.
I've seen flexible phones given as the justification for dozens of research projects over the last few years, but does anyone actually want them? I have no real need or desire to roll my phone up and put it in my pocket -- it would just fit worse than it does now. I'd much rather have a battery that lasts through an entire day.
Interesting ideas come to my mind if such "liquid" would be really liquid
It's got what plants crave!
According to the researchers, conventional batteries that use liquefied electrolytes are inflexible and are at the risk of explosion. The new electrolyte though flexible is made of solid materials hence making the batteries more stable than the lithium-ion batteries used today.
“Because the new battery uses flexible but solid materials, and not liquids, it can be expected to show a much higher level of stability than conventional rechargeable batteries” said an official of Korean Science Ministry notes Korean Joongang Daily.
The process of creating these flexible batteries is faster than that used to manufacture conventional batteries. The new flexible polymer electrolyte is spread on electrodes which are then blasted with UV light for about 30 seconds.
Flexibility is minor news. Great news is: electric cars just became safer and cheaper. Extra good news for me personally is: soon there'll finally be cars worth buying on the market.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the most popular energy source for mobile electronic devices, are rapidly expanding their range of applications into fields such as electrical vehicles, grid energies, and flexible electronic devices.1 This strong market demand stimulates the need for development of advanced lithium ion battery technologies capable of improving energy storage densities, cycle life, charge/discharge rates, and design flexibility.2, 3
One strategy to address certain of these goals involves advanced structural design in the electrodes, along with associated new material development. For example, three dimensional (3D) electrodes can yield improvements in rate capability and capacity retention.4–6 These advantages are further enhanced in high-capacity anode materials, such as silicon and tin, which undergo large changes in volume during charge/discharge cycling.7, 8 One challenge for 3D electrodes, particularly in integration of active components, arises from difficulties in securing conformal electrolytes that can also prevent electrical shorts between electrodes.6 Although liquid electrolytes ensure excellent electrochemical performance and good physical contact with 3D electrodes, they suffer from potential leakage, leading to safety concerns. More importantly, liquid electrolytes limit choices in cell design due to their fluidic characteristics and the need for separator membranes in cell assembly. This situation motivates the development of self-supporting solid-state electrolytes that can conform to 3D electrodes and, at the same time, provide sufficient mechanical deformability for reliable use, especially for applications in flexible electronics and other demanding areas of envisioned use.
Among various solid-state electrolytes, gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), which are generally composed of polymer matrix and liquid electrolyte, are widely used in lithium-ion batteries owing to their excellent ionic conductivity, low rates of safety failure, and mechanical flexibility.9–11 In general, conventional GPEs are prepared using a predesigned frame via solution casting of liquid state mixtures (i.e., liquid electrolytes and polymers dissolved in organic solvents or liquid electrolytes/polymerizable monomers), followed by solvent evaporation or chemical cross-linking for solidification. The initial, liquid-state, mixtures for GPEs have limited dimensional stability before solidification due to their intrinsically fluidic characteristics, thereby restricting their facile application to complex-structured systems such as 3D batteries.
To the best of our knowledge, there are no polymer electrolytes that are both shape-conformable to 3D electrodes and mechanically flexible without impairing their electrochemical performance. Moreover, it is still challenging to secure dimensional stability (as a solid form) of polymer electrolytes during electrolyte preparation and cell assembly process.6, 12
In the following, we demonstrate a facile and scalable approach to the fabrication of highly ion-conductive and bendable polymer electrolytes that can be also conformable to 3D micropatterned architectures of electrodes over large areas. These polymer electrolytes can also be directly writable or printable onto substrates of interest (including electrodes with complex geometries) due to well-tuned rheological characteristics. The materials are a kind of composite gel polymer electrolyte (hereinafter, referred to as “c-GPE”), composed of a UV (ultraviolet)-cured ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate (ETPTA) polymer matrix, high-boiling point liquid electrolyte (1M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate (EC)/propylene carbonate (PC) = 1/1 (v/v)), and alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles (Figure 1a). The ETPTA monomer, which contains trivalent vinyl groups that participate in UV-crosslinking,13, 14 serves as a mechanical framework (after UV-curing). The chemical structure of the ETPTA, along with 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-1-propanon (HMPP, a photo-initiator), appears in Figure S1 in E
Well thats a relief. Thats whats always bothered me about batteries. Just how gosh darn inflexible they are. Cough.
Like Nafion, which is several decades old.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Technology copied from US company Solicore which developed and has already been selling this technology for 10 years. Yawn.
Wasn't this addressed in "Idiocracy"? "It's got ELECTROLYTES."
*BSD but FreeBSD Be treated by your obligated to care Fucking market don't ffel thAt Get tough. I hope
The cell phone I bought quite a few years ago (more than a decade) has a Li-pol battery.
This seems to be based on a similar idea (they mention a polymer matrix as well) so solid but flexible electrolyte is not a first, as I have a consumer device over a decade old that has exactly that.[1]
The novelty seems to be (from reading the actual pay-walled article, God forbid!) that this can be printed. But even this may just be similar to all of these "in a computer" patents. Maybe back then it was also true, but now printable is fashion in science.
So, this seems to be a case of "scientists develop an improved version of what has been on consumer devices for over a decade. Expect to see it in the market by 2030 due to costs."
[1] Granted, it's packaged in a non-flexible case, but I that's how I like my phones to be anyway.
Having a solid electrolyte opens up other opportunities beyond just a flexible battery. If it has decent performance (most solid electrolytes have way too high impedance), a solid electrolyte opens up a lot of possibilities, such as different manufacturing techniques, and increased safety.
Welcome to the new iPhone 11*...now limper than ever!
*Note: substitute 'Galaxy XYZ' if you're an Apple fan
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
If only my contract had any flex.
I know a lot of people use their phone for a time piece now.
But still, I'd buy a ultra thin watch with the battery in the band!
Something like the Tron watch might be possible.
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/TRON-watch-580x410.jpg
IIRC, current lithium ion battery production produces a fair amount of pollution. Would the new process improve on that?
Like a good neighbor, fsck is there
Seriously? I can understand how that might be one application of a flexible battery, but you'd also need the handset itself to be flexible, meaning all of the plastic covering, the SoC and any buttons, assuming it had any like volume adjustment buttons and a power button, would need to be flexible too (not just the battery).
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.