Next generation batteries
Next Generation Batteries (NGBs) or post-lithium batteries are needed and researched due to the limitation of available lithium together with materials issues, especially cobalt, used for the electrodes in the Lithium-ion battery technology. The overall aim of the NGBs is to find new sustainable battery technologies with reduced or no amount of lithium while providing high energy density, longer lifetime, low cost and versatility. [1] Today, high performance batteries are mainly needed for electric vehicles and green energy solutions.The term post-lithium batteries might cause some confusion since there are battery technologies that do not rely on lithium, but still are not accounted for as NGBs, at the same time as there are lithium based batteries that are NGBs. The term post-lithium batteries refers to technologies developed after the lithium-ion battery technology, which was first commercialised in 1991 [2], and hence batteries such as lead-acid, nickel metal-hydride (NiMH), nickel cadmium, ZEBRA and sodium-sulphur are not considered NGBs.
Different Types of Next Generation Batteries[edit]
Sodium-Ion Batteries[edit]
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have the same working principle as the lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but with Na as charge carrier instead of Li+. During discharge of the battery electrons travel through an external eletric circuit from the negative electrode (the anode) to the positive electrode (the cathode). Sodium-ions Na+ travel towards the positive electrode within the battery to keep the charge balance. The available resources of lithium today are calculated to last no longer than another 65 years at present rate of consumption. Sodium is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. For SIBs light and cheap current collectors made out of aluminium can be used, since aluminium and sodium do not form alloys, while LIBs use copper which is both heavier and more costly. [3] The challenge of SIBs is primarily to find a suitable anode material. Graphite cannot intercalate Na+. Today hard carbon is the most popular choice, but it shows a lower capacity than graphite. [4] Using Na-metal batteries instead of Na-ion could be a solution to this problem.
Lithium-sulfur[edit]
Lithium-sulfur or Li-S batteries theoretically have very high energy densities up to f 2567Wh/kg. In addition they are environmentally friendly, S is abundant and cheap[5] and they do not contain cobolt. The cells are built up by electrolyte one electrode containing sulfur and the other of Li-metal. The main problems are low practical energy density, fading of the capacity, short cycle life and the low electric conductivity of sulfur.[6] These issues in many cases seem to stemfrom the production of polysulfide species at the cathode upon discharge which dissolve in the electrolyte and move to the anode where they react with the Li-metal. These products are then further soluble and diffuse back to the cathode. [7] This process is known as the polysulfide redox shuttle and much research and efforts are therefore put on controlling and limiting the solubility of the polysulfides. This involves new electrolyte systems, encapsulation of the sulfur in nanostructured materials and using protective coatings of the anode. Higher concentrations of salt in the electrolyte have shown to prevent shuttling, but this significantly increase cost. Another type electrolyte that is being investigated for Li-S batteries are ionic liquid based electrolytes (IL). IL the advantage of being non-flamable and non-volatile. Thrawbacks are high viscosity and high cost.[8]
Multivalent[edit]
NGBs based on di or trivalent metals have the ability to exchange more than one electron per cation resulting in high theoretical energy densities and they are also often based on cheap and abundant materials such as magnesium, calcium and aluminium. A major struggle for the rechargeable multivalent batteries are lifelength. In order to become industrialized the numbers of cycles need to increase. Research anticipate that rechargeable multivalent batteries will likely play an important part in future large-scale energy storage.
Magnesium[edit]
The magnesium ion carries two charges per atom and as an anode material magnesium metal has almost twice the volumetric capacity compared to lithium metal (3.833 mAhcm−3vs. 2.046 mAh cm−3)[9]. It is the eighth most abundant element in Earth’s crustand come at a low price. The radius of Mg2+ is approximately the same as that of Li+ which implies, theoretically, that the same cathode materials used for LIBs could be used for the magnesium batteries, but this has been shown difficult in practice [10]. Magnesium is much more reactive than lithium; Mg2+ reacts with cathode materials, the formation of MgO is especially pronounced, resulting in a poor reversibility and hence a short cyclelife. Mg2+ also exhibits slow solid state diffusion [11] resulting in a low power. One of the major challenges of magnesium batteries is thus finding cathode materials. In analogy with the LIB, a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is formed on the magnesium metal. Oftenthe SEI conduct the magnesium ions sluggishly and thus finding suitable electrolytes isalso a challenge. [12]
Calsium[edit]
The calcium ion carries two charges per atom. Calcium is the fifth most abundant element in Earth’s crust[13] and just as magnesium it is a possible candidate for replacing the Li-ion battery. Calcium has larger radius than both lithium and magnesium giving it a lower charge density and thus the calcium battery do not suffer from limited diffusion as for the magnesium battery [14]. However, the larger radius of the calcium ion makes intercalation more critical leading to reduced reversibility and hence cycle life. Thus, one of the problematics regarding the calcium battery, just as for many multivalent batteries,is in finding compatible electrode materials. Along with this there are also compatibility problems with nonaqueous electrolytes due to that high temperatures up to 100°C are required in order to provide calcium plating/stripping [15]
Aluminium[edit]
Al is light weight and the third most abundant element on Earth [16] making it a low cost material. Aluminium has an excellent volumetric capacity, four times that of lithium, and it has a reasonably good gravimetric capacity. The ability to transfer three units of charge by one cation significantly increase the energy storage capacity but finding host materials for a trivalent cation is difficult. There are aluminium-air batteries using a aluminium metal anode and aqueous electrolyte. The battery is not rechargeable in aqueous electrolyte but it can be seen as a rechargeablebattery if the anode is mechanically replaced with a new one. Aluminium in the electrolyte together with zinc and graphite electrodes provides a rechargeable battery.
List of Next Generation batteries[edit]
Sodium-Ion, Sodium, Potassium-Ion, Magnesium, Calcium, Aluminium, Zink, Metal-Air, Lithium-Sulfur, Al-ion
Application Areas[edit]
Smart grid[edit]
In order to increase acquisition of energy from renewable energy resources large-scale, energy storage need to be implemented on the grid. Solar panels can only produce energy at daytime and the wind power depends on the weatherconditions. NGBs will likely play an important part in this transition. These NGBs do not need to be very portable or have a high energy density but be inexpensive, sustainable and maintenance-free. NGB candidates are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and aluminium batteries. Particularly interesting is the aluminium battery as the metal is one of the most abundant in the Earth’s crust, that the battery is favourable in a safety perspective and other properties.
Electric vehicles[edit]
The transportation sector is responsible for ca 30% of the CO2-emissions worldwide. Electrical vehicles will be part of the remedy, but the batteries used need to have less environmental impact. Cars, busses, trucks, boats and flights could be electrified on agreater scale when an even more satisfying battery technology than the LIB is available. A major challenge is that the energy density needs to increase to ensure longer drive-ranges before charging.
Recycling[edit]
Another way to reduce the need of extraction of more lithium is to find more effective ways of recycling batteries containing lithium. On pilot scales hydrometallurgical methods are developed to extract lithium from battery scarp. Examples of companies looking into this are Recupyl in France and Accurec in Germany.[17] Today, on the other hand, almost no lithium is recovered at recycling of Li-ion batteries. The main recycling processes available on an industrial scale are pyrolysis or pyrometallurgy. These process focuses on recovering cobalt, nickel and copper as alloys whereas lithium and other materials end up as anunusable slag. Cobolt is the most valuable metal and the cost efficiency for a company to recycle batteries with pyrometallurgy is strongly dependent on the current cobalt price. So far recovering the lithium is not as cost efficient, which give low incentive for companiesto do so. [18] [19]
References[edit]
- ↑ C. P. Grey J. M. Tarascon, Sustainability and in situ monitoring in battery development, December 2016, Nature
- ↑ C. B. Bucur, Challenges of a Rechargeable Magnesium Battery: A Guide to the Viability of this Post Lithium-Ion Battery. Springer, 2017.
- ↑ J. Y. Hwang, S. T. Myung, Y. K. Sun, Sodium-ion batteries: present and future, Chemical Society Reviews, 2017
- ↑ M Wahid, D Puthusseri, Y Gawli, N Sharma, S Ogale, Hard Carbons for Sodium‐Ion Battery Anodes: Synthetic Strategies, Material Properties, and Storage Mechanisms, Wiley Online Library, 2017
- ↑ X. Fan, W. Sun, F. Meng, A. Xing, and J. Liu, “Advanced chemical strategies forlithium-sulfur batteries: A review,”Green Energy & Environment, 2017
- ↑ J. Sheers, S Fantini, P Johansson, A review of electrolytes for lithium–sulphur batteries, Elsevier, 2014
- ↑ M. Safari, C. Y. Kwok, and L. F. Nazar, July 28 2016, Transport Properties of Polysulfide Species in Lithium–Sulfur Battery Electrolytes: Coupling of Experiment and Theory, ACS central science
- ↑ J. Sheers, S Fantini, P Johansson, A review of electrolytes for lithium–sulphur batteries, Elsevier, 2014
- ↑ I. Shterenberg, M. Salama, Y. Gofer, E. Levi, and D. Aurbach, “The challenge ofdeveloping rechargeable magnesium batteries,”Mrs Bulletin, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 453–460, 2014.
- ↑ C. B. Bucur, Challenges of a Rechargeable Magnesium Battery: A Guide to the Viability of this Post Lithium-Ion Battery. Springer, 2017.
- ↑ C. B. Bucur, T. Gregory, A. G. Oliver, and J. Muldoon, “Confession of a magnesiumbattery,”The journal of physical chemistry letters, vol. 6, no. 18, pp. 3578–3591, 2015.
- ↑ C. B. Bucur, Challenges of a Rechargeable Magnesium Battery: A Guide to the Viability of this Post Lithium-Ion Battery. Springer, 2017.
- ↑ A. Ponrouch, C. Frontera, F. Barde, and M. Palacin, “Towards a calcium-basedrechargeable battery,”Nature materials, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 169, 2016
- ↑ T. Tojo, Y. Sugiura, R. Inada, and Y. Sakurai, “Reversible calcium ion batteriesusing a dehydrated prussian blue analogue cathode,”Electrochimica Acta, vol. 207,pp. 22–27, 2016.
- ↑ S. Gheytani, Y. Liang, F. Wu, Y. Jing, H. Dong, K. K. Rao, X. Chi, F. Fang, andY. Yao, “An aqueous ca-ion battery,”Advanced Science, vol. 4, no. 12, 2017.
- ↑ G. A. Elia, K. Marquardt, K. Hoeppner, S. Fantini, R. Lin, E. Knipping, W. Peters,J.-F. Drillet, S. Passerini, and R. Hahn, “An overview and future perspectives of aluminum batteries,”Advanced Materials, vol. 28, no. 35, pp. 7564–7579, 2016.
- ↑ D. Kushnir, “Lithium ion battery recycling technology 2015: Current state and futureprospects,” 2015
- ↑ D. Kushnir, “Lithium ion battery recycling technology 2015: Current state and futureprospects,” 2015
- ↑ T. Georgi-Maschler and et al, “Development of a recycling process for li-ion batteries,”Journal of Power Sources, vol. 207, pp. 173–182, June 2012
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