With the rapid growth of the electric car market around the world, the search for solutions to battery problems that determine the performance of the vehicle’s operation is increasing.

Electric cars operate with lithium-ion batteries, which consist of a copper elevator and an aluminum landing pad, and both the elevator and the landing pad are covered with a very thin layer of a thickness of tenths of a millimeter of a mixture containing lithium, and then covered with another layer whose thickness does not exceed the thickness of a hair and consists of special porcelain that can bear Temperatures up to 700 degrees Celsius without igniting.

Reducing charging and discharging time

The research team of Pohang University of Science and Technology, writing the acronym "POSTECH", has developed a material capable of accelerating lithium-ion battery charging by up to 90% within 6 minutes, and it gives electric cars a longer life.

The research team was formed of scientists and researchers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pohang University in cooperation with scientists and researchers from the Department of Energy Sciences of Sungkyunkwan University of Korea.

The team has demonstrated for the first time that when performing a battery's charging and discharging process, high power can be produced by drastically reducing the charging and discharging time without reducing the particle size involved in the components of the battery itself.

The results of their research were published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science on September 17, and the press release on the study was published on the website Phys.org on October 23.

Electric cars are powered by lithium-ion batteries that consist of a copper elevator and an aluminum landing gear (Pixabay).

Avoiding the disadvantages of traditional methods

Under conventional methods, lithium-ion batteries are charged by reducing the size of the particles that make up the electrode materials.

However, particle size reduction has an important drawback, which is that it reduces the volumetric energy density of batteries.

Thus, the research team emphasized that if an intermediate stage is formed in the transition phase during charging and discharging, then high energy can be generated without losing the high energy density and without reducing the particle size as well, thus enabling the development of sustainable lithium-ion batteries.

The matter can be clarified as follows: In the phase of separation of materials that enter into the creation and development of a new phase upon charging and discharging, two phases of two different sizes arise in each molecule, which leads to structural faults in the overlap region between the two phases, and these faults prevent the rapid activation of a new phase within the molecule, Delays both fast charging and rapid discharging.

Now by adopting the industrial method developed by the research team, one can add an intermediate stage that acts as a buffer and greatly reduce the difference in size between the two phases within the molecule.

According to traditional methods, lithium batteries are charged by reducing the size of the particles that make up the electrode materials (pixabay)

Speed ​​up injection and removal of lithium

Moreover, it has been confirmed that this developed buffer intermediate stage can assist in the creation and enhancement of a new intra-molecular phase, which improves the injection speed and removal of intramolecular lithium.

In turn, this proved that the formation of the intermediate phase can dramatically increase the charging and discharging speed of the cell by creating a homogeneous electro-chemical reaction inside the electrode formed by a large number of molecules.

As a result, the electrodes for the lithium-ion battery that were manufactured by the research team, charge 90% in 6 minutes, and can discharge 54% in 18 seconds, which is seen as a promising sign in the development of high-performance lithium-ion batteries.