New type of batteries will allow electric vehicles to travel 800 km without recharging

The lack of significant progress in electrical charge storage technologies is beginning to hold back the development of entire industries. For example, modern electric cars are forced to either limit themselves to modest mileage figures on a single charge or become expensive toys for select “technophiles.” The desire of smartphone manufacturers to make their devices thinner and lighter conflicts with the design features of lithium-ion batteries: it is difficult to increase their capacity without sacrificing the thickness of the case and the weight of the smartphone. The functionality of mobile devices is expanding, new consumers of electricity are appearing, but progress in battery life cannot be achieved.

According to the resource EE Times Asia, at the Imec technology summit, company employees shared various promising developments, including a project to use new types of materials in the creation of batteries with solid-state electrolyte, which make the cell more compact. Or, while maintaining the same dimensions, you can increase the battery capacity. According to forecasts, modern lithium-ion batteries will reach a specific capacity limit of 2025 Wh per liter of volume by 800. If Imec's proposals can be implemented, then by 2030 the specific battery capacity will be raised to 1200 Wh/l. Electric cars will be able to travel up to 800 km without recharging, and smartphones will be able to work away from a power outlet for several days.

Imec earlier this year announced the creation of a nanotube material with a cellular structure for the production of electrodes, and is now building a laboratory that will begin producing prototype batteries with solid-state electrolyte by the end of this year. Imec experts claim that one of the reasons for the failure of wearable devices like Google Glass was their lack of compact and capacious power sources. One of Imec's proposals is to create an anode that combines lithium with other metals, which would reduce the thickness of the electrolyte layer without compromising the overall capacity of the battery cell.

Source: 3dnews.ru