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

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.

27 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. I'll wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Until Jane Waybetter from Bulldaze School of Engineering comes out with an improved solid-state battery, winning the Valiant medal.

  2. A "noble prize"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Are you morons even trying anymore?

    1. Re:A "noble prize"? by msauve · · Score: 4, Funny

      BeauHD displays his noble prize right next to his Master of Farts degree.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  3. 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 Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      From TFA: 'In experiments, the researchers’ cells have demonstrated more than 1,200 cycles with low cell resistance.'

    2. Re:Is it good for a thousand cycles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It looks like you had a stroke mid-post...

    3. 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.

    4. Re:Is it good for a thousand cycles? by locater16 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, 1,200+ cycles, faster (or even much faster?) charge and discharge rates (power density) AND mentions being low cost. This, unlike every battery announcement so far, appears to tick off every box it actually needs to. If it all stands up to scrutiny this girl's a billionaire already t(he primary researcher is actually someone from Portugal named Maria. But this being the UT Austin website they mention Goodenough first and foremost cause he's a professor there). There's been plenty of overhyped battery announcements in the past, and obviously we're still using Lithium-ion. But this is the first one I know that actually makes all the right claims to be fully commercializable and replace li-on. So we'll see I guess.

  4. Re: When is -20c extreme? by Kkloe · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is when the current charging recommendation is >0 for LI-ion so anything below is extreme for LI-ion.

  5. 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.
  6. Not a "new battery of the week" we're used to by fabioalcor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think this one differentiate from the rest in two aspects: first, this one looks much more production-ready than all the others I heard about (TFA says "has more charging cycles, supports fast charging, and isn’t prone to catch fire"). It may be necessary improve mechanical strength (the glass electrolyte can be too brittle for real world applications), maybe voltage or current throughput... what do you think?
    And second, this one is from the man that did it once before. For me, it's good enough (^^).

  7. 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.
  8. 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?

  9. Re: -20C is not extreme, it is monday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    As always, comments before reading TFA: "This is the first all-solid-state battery cell that can operate under 60 degree Celsius."
    So yes, -20C is extreme for this type of solid state battery.

  10. Similar Tech with Plastic by CrawlingEvil · · Score: 4, Informative

    I just watched a recent Nova that highlighted a similar technology, but using plastic rather than glass as the electrolyte. Check out a short clip about it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/n.... Seems like it has the same advantages, but without issues of brittleness, given that his sample batteries are shown being flexed. On the other hand, the plastic might be more susceptible to cold than the glass electrolyte.

  11. Re:High "volumetric"density. Bad mass density? by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Probably not - no ingredient we've been told about is exceptionally dense.
    From Wikipedia Li-ion batteries have 100-265 W.h/kg and 250-676 W.h/L, which implies density of about 2.5kg/L.

    This page gives typical density of glass as 2.4 to 2.8 kg/L. Sodium metal has density 0.97 kg/L. So the new cell should have similar or better mass density than the Li-ion cells.

    --
    Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
  12. Michigan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    A few weeks ago, Nova showed a lithium-metal battery developed at Univ. of Michigan that uses plastic, has 2X the energy density of Li-ion, and doesn't explode or burn even when cut numerous times. Pogue showed such a battery continuing to produce power even when sliced many times with scissors.

  13. Re:Fantastic, really. by dbIII · · Score: 5, Informative

    Spoken like someone who only takes one facile view of very complicated issues.

    The irony of that statement is you are simplisticly casting yourself in my role without even attempting to find out that I'm an engineer that some years back worked in the manufacturing industry - you removed the complexity and placed a very simple strawman in the place of someone who has been considering this issue since the 1980s.
    Also I gave two examples - two views of companies that were very reluctant to upgrade their processess and suffered very gravely.

    I could have been as insulting as you have, but instead of pointing out appalling ignonance on your part I placed the spotlight on two examples of others who acted in the same appalling ignorance as you expressed.
    Factories that do not upgrade process lines shut down while the work is carried out elsewhere in places that do. Haven't you heard of the "rust belt"?

  14. This is my favorite Slashdot feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always look forward to Slashdot's famous Battery of the Week stories. Each week we are introduced to the latest battery breakthorough that is just around the corner. Or maybe 10 years down the road. Or maybe never. Does it matter that it will never be produced, and never available for sale? Absolutely not!

    This is about dreams, and visions. It has nothing to do with reality. I'm a dreamer. MLK was a dreamer. The Everly brothers were dreamers. Mexicans are dreamers. We are all dreamers!

    Dream on, mis amigos! Dream on!

  15. Re:Check your facts by haruchai · · Score: 5, Funny

    He just isn't quite Goodenough.

    The man's 94 years old. You're going to have to be very, very creative to make a joke out of his name that he hasn't heard 1000x

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  16. 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.
  17. Something similar. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Saw this episode of NOVA, Search for the Super Battery with David Pogue about Tufts University professor and engineer Mike Zimmerman and his solid plastic electrolyte, described here: New Damage-Proof Battery Has Higher Energy Density, Won’t Explode:

    But Zimmerman’s battery can withstand repeated damage without risking explosion or fire. In fact, it can continue to power devices even after most of it has been chopped away.

    Watched him hit the batter pack it with a hammer, drive nails through it and cut it up with scissors all while the battery kept producing power.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  18. Re:Too extreme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not much of a problem. Electric cars are popular in Norway, despite Canadian temperatures and current battery technology. There is a simple fix for batteries in cold climate: Insulation and a battery heater. The heating may steal a few percent of range, which is much better than not being able to use the car at all. Insulation ensures that the heating losses are small.

    And of course, a battery that only need heating when below -20C is much better than current batteries that like being heated up to +20C. (Which is what we call "summer temperature" here.) 3x capacity - even better!

  19. Re:When is -20c extreme? by fisted · · Score: 5, Funny

    I highly doubt that -40 Coulombs equals -40 Farads.

  20. Re:When is -20c extreme? by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not if we are talking about my ex.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.