Battery Power - November/December 2013 - (Page 4)
Editor's Choice
Solid-State Battery Developed at CU-Boulder Could
Double the Range of Electric Cars
A cutting-edge battery technology developed at the University of Colorado Boulder that could allow tomorrow's electric
vehicles to travel twice as far on a charge is now closer to
becoming a commercial reality.
CU's Technology Transfer Office has completed an agreement with Solid Power LLC, a CU-Boulder spinoff company
founded by Se-Hee Lee and Conrad Stoldt, both associate
professors of mechanical engineering, for the development and
commercialization of a solid-state rechargeable battery. Solid
Power also was recently awarded a $3.4 million grant from
the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects
Agency-Energy for the purpose of creating a battery that can
improve electric vehicle driving range.
The rechargeable batteries that are standard in today's electric vehicles, as well as in a host of consumer electronics, such
as mobile phones and laptops, are lithium-ion batteries, which
generate electricity when lithium ions move back and forth
between electrodes in a liquid electrolyte solution.
Engineers and chemists have long known that using lithium
metal as the anode in a rechargeable battery, as opposed to the
conventional carbon materials that are used as the anode in
conventional lithium-ion batteries, can dramatically increase its
energy density. But using lithium metal, a highly reactive solid,
in conjunction with a liquid electrolyte is extremely hazardous
because it increases the chance of a thermal runaway reaction
that can result in a fire or an explosion.
Today's lithium-ion batteries require a bulky amount of
devices to protect and cool the batteries. A fire onboard a Boeing
Dreamliner in January that temporarily grounded the new class
of plane was linked to its onboard lithium-ion battery.
Lee and Stoldt solved the safety concerns around using
lithium metal by eliminating the liquid electrolyte. Instead,
the pair built an entirely solid-state battery that uses a ceramic
electrolyte to separate the lithium metal anode from the cathode.
Because the solid-state battery is far safer, it requires less protective packaging, which in turn could reduce the weight of the
battery system in electric vehicles and help extend their range.
Research into the development of solid-state batteries has
gone on for a couple of decades, but it has been difficult to create a solid electrolyte that allowed the ions to pass through it as
easily as a liquid electrolyte.
"The problem has always been that solid electrolytes had
very poor performance making their use in rechargeable batteries impractical," Stoldt said. "However, the last decade has seen
a resurgence in the development of new solid electrolytes with
ionic conductivities that rival their liquid counterparts."
The critical innovation added by Lee and Stoldt that allows their solid-state lithium battery to out-perform standard
lithium-ion batteries is the construction of the cathode, the part
of the battery that attracts the positively charged lithium ions
once they're discharged from the lithium metal. Instead of using
a solid mass of material, Lee and Stoldt created a "composite
cathode," essentially small particles of cathode material held
4
Battery Power * November/December 2013
together with solid electrolyte and infused with an additive that
increases its electrical conductivity. This configuration allows
ions and electrons to move more easily within the cathode.
"The real innovation is an all-solid composite cathode that is
based upon an iron-sulfur chemistry that we developed at CU,"
Stoldt said. "This new, low-cost chemistry has a capacity that's
nearly 10 times greater than state-of-the-art cathodes."
Last year, Lee and Stoldt partnered with Douglas Campbell,
a small-business and early-stage product development veteran,
to spin out Solid Power.
"We're very excited about the opportunity to achieve commercial success for the all solid-state rechargeable battery," said
Campbell, Solid Power's president. "We're actively engaging
industrial commercial partners to assist in commercialization
and expect to have prototype products ready for in-field testing
within 18 to 24 months."
Important to the early success of the company has been its
incubation within CU-Boulder's College of Engineering and
Applied Science's applied energy storage research center, a
part of the college's energy systems and environmental sustainability initiative.
Solid Power is a member of Rocky Mountain Innosphere, a
nonprofit technology incubator headquartered in Fort Collins,
Colo., with a mission to accelerate the development and success
of high-impact scientific and technology startup companies.
"We're very excited to be working with Solid Power's team
to get them to the next level," said Mike Freeman, Innosphere's
CEO. "This is a big deal to Colorado's clean-tech space. Solid
Power's batteries will have a huge impact in the EV market, and
they have a potential $20 billion market for their technology."
1,300 Watt Electric Vehicle Charger for Lithium
Ion Applications
Green Watt Power, a division of Calex Mfg. Co., Inc., has
introduced the EVC-116-1300, a 1,300 watt constant current and
constant voltage two stage charger specifically designed to charge
lithium ion battery systems in electric vehicles such as scooters,
motorcycles and carts. The low profile design of the EVC-1161300 allows mechanical integration into a variety of form factors.
If needed, Green Watt Power can modify the unit as needed to
meet each application's unique requirements. The standard overall
dimensions of the EVC-116-1300 is 9.76 inches by 14.76 inches
by 1.73 inches with a weight of 7.6 kg. The package is designed
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Battery Power - November/December 2013
Solid-State Battery Developed at CU-Boulder Could Double the Range of Electric Cars
GS Yuasa Batteries Help Power Orbital Science’s
Cygnus Spacecraft on Mission to ISS
Li-Ion Battery Technology Delivers High Power for Data Center UPS Installations
Battery Demands for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Understanding When and Why You Need UPS Battery Replacement
Charging Forward: A Resurgence of the EV Movement and the Role Charging Infrastructure Plays in Continuing the Momentum
Batteries
Charging Systems
Testing & Monitoring
ICs & Semiconductors
Manufacturing
Components
Industry News
Marketplace
Battery Power - November/December 2013
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