Scientists at the DoE Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have struck the battery mother lode: They created an allsolid lithiumsulfur battery that is cheaper, less flammable, and has four times the energy density of conventional lithiumion batteries. Beyond the obvious gains from a fourfold increase in energy density, these sulfurbased batteries could play a key role in electric vehicles and airplanes, where the flammability of lithiumion batteries is a serious concern.



We have known about the potential of lithiumsulfur batteries for decades. Theoretically, sulfurlithium battery chemistry can have an energy density (watthours cheap ugg boots per gram) that is 10 times that of conventional lithiumion batteries. In smallscale testing, sulfurlithium has been shown to have an energy density that is four times that of lithiumion. Another advantage is that sulfur cathode is a lot cheaper than the lithiumbased cathode normally used in a lithiumion battery. Sulfur, by virtue of being a byproduct of petroleum processing, is almost free.



The problem with conventional lithiumsulfur battery chemistry, though, is that the liquid electrolyte which is present in just about every commercial battery chemistry essentially burns ugg boots uk through the sulfur cathode, resulting in a battery that only good for a few chargedischarge cycles. The scientists at ORNL have solved this problem in two ways: They developed a new, morerugged sulfurbased material for the cathode and they also introduced a solid electrolyte, further reducing the wear and tear on the cathode. This new cathode material, fashioned out of lithium polysulfidophosphates, has a massive capacity of 1,200 milliamphours (mAh) per gram after 300 charge/discharge cycles; a lithiumion cathode, on the other hand, has a capacity of just 140170 mAh/g.



The world fastest computer, Titan, is also situated at ORNL



Combined with the solid electrolyte, and after factoring in lithiumsulfur lower voltage, the ORNL battery has four times the energy density of the lithiumion battery in your smartphone. In other words, if your current smartphone battery gets you eight hours of use, a lithiumsulfur battery should get you 32 hours.



Beyond its increased power density, the use of a solid electrolyte instead of flammable liquid electrolyte should significantly reduce the chance of combustion. This is good news for Boeing, which recently had its fleet of 787 Dreamliners grounded due to some onboard battery fires, and for electric vehicle makers.



Moving forward, ORNL new battery is still in the demonstration stage, but the team has filed for a patent. It easy to get bogged down by the seemingly neverending stream of gonowhere battery advances, but this one, by virtue of its efficacy, frugality, and relatively simple chemistry, really could come to market in the next few years. Maybe the Department of Energy plea for a 5x improvement in chemical batteries within five years will actually come to pass.



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