Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2022 - BET-24

" This technology does not require
dams, reservoirs, or tunnels, and it does
not disrupt the natural flow of the river
and fish passage. The system requires
only roads, which already exist, charging
and discharging stations similar to small
car parks, a battery facility connected to
the grid, and the trucks, " said Hunt.
When looking at the global reach of
this technology, the research team
estimated that Electric Truck Hydropower
could generate 1.2 PWh electricity
per year, which is equivalent to
about 4 percent of global energy consumption
in 2019.
The technology could harness the
previously untapped potential for hydropower
on steep mountain ranges.
The regions with the highest potential
are the Himalayas and the Andes.
" It is an interesting electricity generation
alternative due to its high flexibility.
For example, if a country is in an
energy crisis, it can buy several electric
trucks to generate hydropower, " Hunt
said. " Once the crisis is over, the trucks
can be used to transport cargo, " he
added.
For more information, contact Ansa
Heyl at +43 2236 807 574.
New Material Offers Promise for Solid-State Batteries
A new chlorine-based solid-state electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries could lead to higher safety and increased
energy density.
Argonne National Laboratory, DuPage County, IL
R
esearchers from the University of
Waterloo, Canada, who are members
of the Joint Center for Energy
Storage Research (JCESR), headquartered
at the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE)
Argonne National
several
Laboratory, have discovered a new
solid electrolyte that offers
important advantages.
This electrolyte, composed of lithium,
scandium, indium, and chlorine, conducts
lithium ions well but electrons poorly.
This combination is essential to creating
an all-solid-state battery that functions
without significantly losing capacity for
over a hundred cycles at high voltage
(above 4 volts) and thousands of cycles at
intermediate voltage. The chloride nature
of the electrolyte is key to its stability at
operating conditions above 4 volts -
meaning it is suitable for typical cathode
materials that form the mainstay of today's
lithium-ion cells.
Current iterations of solid-state electrolytes
focus heavily on sulfides, which
oxidize and degrade above 2.5 volts.
Therefore, they require the incorporation
of an insulating coating around the cathode
material that operates above 4 volts,
which impairs the ability of electrons and
lithium ions to move from the electrolyte
and into the cathode.
The team wasn't the first to devise a
chloride electrolyte, the decision to swap
out half of
the indium for
scandium
based on their previous work proved to
24
Chloride SE
NMC
Li+
Li+
Li+
eChlorine-based
electrolytes like the one shown here are offering improved performance for
solid-state lithium-ion batteries. (Photo: Linda Nazar/University of Waterloo)
be a winner in terms of lower electronic
and higher ionic conductivity.
One chemical key to the ionic conductivity
lay in the material's crisscrossing
3D structure called a spinel. The researchers
had to balance two competing
desires - to load the spinel with as many
charge carrying ions as possible, but also
to leave sites open for the ions to move
through.
It is not yet clear why the electronic
conductivity is lower than many previously
reported chloride electrolytes, but
it helps establish a clean interface between
the cathode material and solid
electrolyte, a fact that is largely responsible
for the stable performance even with
high amounts of active material in the
cathode.
The research was funded by the DOE's
Office of Science and Office of Basic
Energy Sciences with some support from
Canada's National Sciences and
Engineering Research Council.
For more information, contact media@
anl.gov; 630-252-5580.
Battery & Electrification Technology, May 2022
Li+
BET Tech Briefs 0522_1.indd 24
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ToC
4/19/22 2:22 PM

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Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2022

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