An international team of scientists found a way to improve battery design that could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries.
Scientists using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could boost power and safety for lithium batteries. Credit: Phoenix Pleasant/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
The team used quasi-elastic neutron scattering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to set the first benchmark, one-nanosecond, or one billionth of a second, for a mixture of lithium salt and an organic polymer electrolyte.
“It all comes down to the study of materials,” said Eugene Mamontov, ORNL Chemical Spectroscopy group leader. “And polymer electrolytes won’t catch fire the way liquid electrolytes do in lithium batteries.”
The team used the neutron technique to validate computer simulations, ending a long-standing debate about how long it takes lithium ions to break free from tiny cages created by polymer electrolytes. The rate at which ions in any battery break free from such environments, or solvation cages in polymer electrolytes, helps determine how energy flows through the battery. Polymer electrolytes could enable more energy-dense electrodes, like lithium metal, resulting in more powerful lithium batteries.
The findings also open doors for rapidly s