MVRacing
05-19-2009, 02:45 AM
Could a lithium sulfur be the next big battery breakthrough? (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/18/could-a-lithium-sulfer-be-the-next-big-battery-breakthrough/)
by Domenick Yoney (http://www.autobloggreen.com/bloggers/domenick-yoney/) on May 18th, 2009 at 2:14PM
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2009/05/sulfur-crystals-from-wiki.jpg (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more)
Sulfur crystal from Agrigento, Sicily, Italy
The main obstacle to the mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is often said to be the current range limitations of battery technology. What if the energy density of batteries, and therefore the range of EVs, could be increased by 500 percent? Although we've not heard much about it for some time, a couple recent developments have led us to ponder the possibilities of energy storage with a lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_sulfur_battery).
Last week, it was announced that a company often associated with Li-S batteries, Sion Power Corporation, had made a joint development agreement with BASF to accelerate the commercialization of their proprietary battery tech. Sion, who has been working with this chemistry since 2002, not only has their own patents they can exploit but also have a patent license agreement with PolyPlus (http://www.polyplus.com/), another firm with research roots in various battery chemistries. For their part, BASF is known to be working on metal oxides for cathode materials and is part of the HE-Lion (http://www.autobloggreen.com/tag/HE-Lion/) effort.
Also involved in research on Li-S batteries are researchers at the University of Waterloo (http://uwaterloo.ca/). A team led by Dr. Linda Nazar have developed highly ordered interwoven composites that allow Li-S batteries to approach their theoretical energy density which is about 2600 wH/kg. To put that in perspective, consider that some of the most energy dense battery cells today are in the 200 wH/kg neighborhood. While it still remains best not to count your battery-chickens before they're hatched, it's nice to know that there could be major improvements to energy storage down the road. Check out the Sion Power press release after the break and click here (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more) for further explanation of the U of Waterloo work.
[Source: Green Car Congress (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more)]
by Domenick Yoney (http://www.autobloggreen.com/bloggers/domenick-yoney/) on May 18th, 2009 at 2:14PM
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2009/05/sulfur-crystals-from-wiki.jpg (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more)
Sulfur crystal from Agrigento, Sicily, Italy
The main obstacle to the mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is often said to be the current range limitations of battery technology. What if the energy density of batteries, and therefore the range of EVs, could be increased by 500 percent? Although we've not heard much about it for some time, a couple recent developments have led us to ponder the possibilities of energy storage with a lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_sulfur_battery).
Last week, it was announced that a company often associated with Li-S batteries, Sion Power Corporation, had made a joint development agreement with BASF to accelerate the commercialization of their proprietary battery tech. Sion, who has been working with this chemistry since 2002, not only has their own patents they can exploit but also have a patent license agreement with PolyPlus (http://www.polyplus.com/), another firm with research roots in various battery chemistries. For their part, BASF is known to be working on metal oxides for cathode materials and is part of the HE-Lion (http://www.autobloggreen.com/tag/HE-Lion/) effort.
Also involved in research on Li-S batteries are researchers at the University of Waterloo (http://uwaterloo.ca/). A team led by Dr. Linda Nazar have developed highly ordered interwoven composites that allow Li-S batteries to approach their theoretical energy density which is about 2600 wH/kg. To put that in perspective, consider that some of the most energy dense battery cells today are in the 200 wH/kg neighborhood. While it still remains best not to count your battery-chickens before they're hatched, it's nice to know that there could be major improvements to energy storage down the road. Check out the Sion Power press release after the break and click here (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more) for further explanation of the U of Waterloo work.
[Source: Green Car Congress (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/05/researchers-develop-electrode-materials-for-highcapacity-lis-battery-cells.html#more)]