ELE Times December 2016 Electronics News in India | Online Electronics Mag | Page 60
Technology
Innovations in Li-ion
batteries sparked excitement
among battery alchemists
L
ithium-ion Batteries (LIB) has been preferred over other alchemies, for being a lowmaintenance battery that requires no prearranged cycling to prolong the battery's life
and also the self-discharge is less than half compared to nickel-cadmium, making
lithium-ion well suited for modern fuel gauge applications. Lithium-ion cells cause
little harm when disposed.
Due to these efficiencies, other than commercials, LIBs is being also preferred for military, battery
electric vehicle and aerospace application becoming a common replacement for the lead acid
batteries that have been originally used for golf carts and utility vehicles. Instead of heavy lead
plates and acid electrolyte, the trend is to use lightweight lithium-ion battery packs that can
provide the same voltage as lead-acid batteries, so no modification to the vehicle's drive system is
required.
Solid Energy Systems, a company founded
by the alumnus of MIT, is formulating to
commercialize a innovative rechargeable
lithium metal battery offering double the
energy capacity of the lithium ion
batteries that power many of today’s
consumer electronics.
The company has developed an “anodefree” lithium metal battery with several
material improvements that make it twice
as energy-dense, yet just as safe and longlasting as the lithium ion batteries used in
smartphones, electric cars, wearables,
drones, and other devices.
“With two-times the energy density, we
can make a battery half the size, but that
still lasts the same amount of time, as a
lithium ion battery. Or we can make a
battery the same size as a lithium ion
battery, but now it will last twice as long,”
says Hu, CEO of Solid Energy, who coinvented the battery at MIT.
In October 2015, the company
demonstrated the first-ever working
ELE Times | 60 | December, 2016
prototype of a rechargeable lithium metal
smartphone battery with double energy
density, earning an investment of around
$12 million. At half the size of the lithium
ion battery used in an iPhone 6, it offers
2.0 amp hours, compared with the lithium
ion battery’s 1.8 amp hours.
Nexeon, a shoot-out of Imperial College
London– is working on batteries with
significantly higher energy density and
longer lifetime between charges. The
product is expected to deliver extended