Lithium-air cell expected to outlast bulky batteries in electric vehicles
Range anxiety is a driver's distressing fear that the battery charge will not get them to their destination.
Now, IBM has come up with a battery with an 800-kilometre (500-mile) range that lets EVs potentially compete with most petrol engines for the first time.
Standard electric vehicles use bulky lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that rarely provide 160 kilometres (100 miles) of driving before they run down.
A newer type of battery, known as a lithium-air cell, is more attractive because it has theoretical energy densities that are more than 1000 times greater than the Li-ion type, which puts it almost at par with gasoline.
Lithium-air cells use carbon, which is lighter and react with oxygen from the air around it to produce an electrical current, instead of using metal oxides in the positive electrode.
According to Winfried Wilcke, a physicist at IBM's Almaden laboratories, based in San Jose, California, the new technology suffers from the drawback of chemical instabilities that limit their lifespan when recharging, making them impractical for use in cars.
Wilcke studied the underlying electrochemistry of these cells using a form of mass spectrometry and found that oxygen is reacting not just with the carbon electrode but also with the electrolytic solvent, which is the conducting solution that carries the lithium ions between the electrodes.
If the electrolyte reacts with the oxygen when the car is in use it will eventually be depleted.
Wilcke worked with his colleague Alessandro Curioni from IBM's Zurich research labs in Switzerland, and used a Blue Gene supercomputer to run extremely detailed models of the reactions to look for alternative electrolytes.
Surioni said that their work included a form of atomistic modelling right down to the quantum mechanics of the components.
"We now have one which looks very promising," New Scientist quoted Wilcke as saying.
Although Wilcke hasn't revealed what material it is, but he said that several research prototypes have already been demonstrated. (ANI -Posted on / )
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