How A Lithium Battery Breakthrough May Solve Two Problems

The importance of lithium in modern advanced economies has grown exponentially with the advent of mobile phones, laptops, and, increasingly, electric vehicles (EVs). This has made the supply of lithium and the capacity to process it all the more important.

Much has been said and written (including on this site) about the issues faced by Western countries in particular, both in terms of the attempts by China to control most of the global supply of the material and host most of the refining capacity.

However, there are potential solutions. More lithium deposits have been found and are close to being exploited, including, in the UK, in County Durham and Cornwall. Lithium refineries are being built or at least planned, including, in the British case, two in the Tees Freeport.

These are two positive steps, as is the development of the UK’s critical minerals strategy, something already pursued by the old Conservative government, but being updated by the Labour administration that came in last year and is no doubt set for more refinements to deal with changing needs and circumstances in the years ahead.

A Battery Breakthrough?

However, there are other challenges presented by the batteries themselves. To be as effective as hoped means they need to be more efficient and also safer, with concerns about current lithium-ion battery technology focused on storage constraints and their high levels of flammability.

For that reason, much research has been taking place into enhancements in lithium battery technology, and a possible breakthrough could help address both of the above problems.

As Electronic Design reports, a revolutionary new lithium-air battery could have four times the storage power of current lithium-ion batteries.

Chemically, the key difference is between the solid electrolytes used in these new lithium-air batteries and the liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries.

Putting Out Fires

The first advantage of this is that solid electrolytes are not volatile or flammable, which means the kind of intense fires that are associated with blazes involving lithium batteries would no longer be a problem.

Secondly, greater storage power would mean that batteries do not need to be as large. As a consequence, the EVs themselves could be smaller, which makes possible a wider range of electric vehicle sizes. Indeed, larger vehicles may also benefit as they would be able to carry more capacity, ideal for HGVs travelling long distances.

Another benefit may be that, with more powerful batteries, the phenomenon of ‘range anxiety’, which arises from the fear among drivers that they might be left stranded with an empty EV battery a long way from any electric chargers, will all but disappear.

How More Energy Is Generated

The research on lithium lanthanum by the US Department of Energy found that the material, based on particles of lithium found in the structure of a material called ceramic-polyethylene oxide polymer, was able to achieve a four-electron chemical reaction at room temperature using trimolybdenum phosphide as a catalyst.

It was the first time such a reaction had been achieved, and this is highly significant for energy production.

What happens in the reaction is that lithium oxide is created, rather than lithium superoxide or lithium peroxide. But, most importantly, the more electrons are involved in the chemical reaction, the more energy is generated. It is from this that the greater amount of battery capacity can be generated.

The lithium lanthanum, in this case in the form of a zirconium garnet, offers such a possibility due to its strength, durability and conductivity, making it the prime candidate for a lithium battery of this type, the article explained.

Ending range anxiety and providing new possibilities for the size and range of EVs clearly represent new benefits, and if this can be scaled down to other devices such as phones and laptops, these would be able to carry more charge as well.

Practical Benefits Of Fire-Free Batteries

The lack of flammability may also have huge practical benefits. The most obvious is in preventing fires themselves. Recent incidents include a blaze at a storage unit in Middleton, Greater Manchester, which is believed to have involved lithium batteries and required six fire engines to tackle.

Such incidents can also cause concern whenever there is a planning application to store, make or use lithium batteries in large quantities in locations close to residential areas, which might not just pose a potential risk, but could also make it increasingly difficult to obtain consent to build such facilities, making it hard to establish storage space.

If this problem can also be resolved by new batteries, which will require the successful experiment to be translated into commercial reality, two of the biggest concerns about existing lithium battery technology could be tackled.