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Li-Ion Battery Inventor Creates Breakthrough Solid-State Battery, Holds 3X Charge (fossbytes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the back-at-it-again dept.

A research team led by John Goodenough at the Cockrell School of Engineering (Yes, this is a legitimate story) has created a new fast charging solid-state battery. Decades ago, American physicist John Goodenough co-invented the lithium-ion battery, which is now omnipresent in today's technology. The team has published a research paper in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. Fossbytes reports: The design limitations of lithium batteries containing liquid electrolytes don't allow them to charge quickly. If done forcefully, it would lead to the formation of metal whiskers (dendrites). Eventually, a short circuit would happen, or the battery would explode. However, that's not the problem with the solid-state batteries. The researchers have used a solid glass electrolyte in place of the liquid one. The glass electrolyte allows the researchers to use the alkali metal anode (negative side) which increases the charge density of the battery and prevents the formation of dendrites. Also, the glass electrolyte enables a battery to operate in extreme temperatures of -20-degree celsius. You can read more via The University of Texas at Austin.

9 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. Is it good for a thousand cycles? by volvox_voxel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Among battery researchers that I know, a key figure of merit is the amount of power you get after the thousandth charge-discharge cycle. There are plenty of great battery ideas out there, but they don't have the lifetimes to be commercially feasible. I wonder how this stacks up.

    1. Re:Is it good for a thousand cycles? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unlikely. This is another one of those amazing "breakthroughs" we see every week that goes nowhere.

      Except that over the last decade we have seen dramatic battery improvements in cost, capacity, reliability, and charging speed, as a result of the very breakthroughs that you are denigrating.

  2. Re:Fantastic, really. by kamapuaa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't it make more sense to dominate the battery market? Are you one of those people who think Chevron is sitting on the technology to make 300mpg cars?

    --
    Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  3. Now this is very cool by m.dillon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or Hot :-). I read a number of articles from analysts who thought it would take around 15 years for the technology to be produced in commercial volumes. But the fact that it looks like this is going to happen at all, even with a 10-15 year time-frame, is a BIG deal. 3x the charge will give electric vehicles a 600+ mile range.

    -Matt

    1. Re:Now this is very cool by presidenteloco · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Look, if this tech can actually make something like 600 mile EVs a reality, not to mention grid-scale energy storage to enable power grid stability with massive wind and solar generation displacing coal,

      then there is no reason why a Manhattan-project scale effort (government led, or even UN led) should not be made to commercialize it in 5 years rather than 15.

      No reason that is, other than the black hole vacuity sitting in the white house.

      --

      Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    2. Re:Now this is very cool by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I expect that faster charging might be a bigger deal for electric cars than greater capacity. The best electric cars have perfectly acceptable ranges, but if you plug them in it takes an hour to add back another 50 miles of range. If you could triple that figure, you'd really have something. Even a cross-continental trip would be feasible. You'd end up spending something like half as much time charging as driving, rather than the other way around.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  4. Re:Fantastic, really. by NotInHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't it make more sense to dominate the battery market?

    No, it makes more sense to produce shitty and expensive products whose quality degrades over lifetime than to sell products where the customer buys it once and is so happy with it they don't need to buy it again.

    In fact, many products in the world have gotten planned obsolescence put into the product so that you have to buy a new one over time.

    Ever heard of the light bulb cartel?

  5. Re:out with the old by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It leaves Musk happy. The megafactory churns out batteries until this (or something similar) gets commercialized, then he switches production to the new battery type. It will let Tesla make more cost-effective electric cars. (If the inventors can impress him enough, Tesla might hire them commercialize it itself. It would be a Muskian thing to do.)

    It is people who have invested in lithium mining who are unhappy.

    --
    Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
  6. Re:Fantastic, really. by Xenna · · Score: 3, Insightful

    " Are you one of those people who think Chevron is sitting on the technology to make 300mpg cars?"

    Of course not, everyone knows Shell's sitting on that.