Graphene as a Battery Material : Lithium-ion battery technology

 

Graphene as a battery material – People consider lithium-ion battery technology as one of the most widely used technologies for electric cars.

Safety is one major problem that automakers are trying to resolve in lithium-ion batteries.

The electrolyte of a lithium-ion battery is highly flammable, and any damage to the battery's exterior layers might result in a short circuit, Which could start a fire or cause it to explode.

They recently added an extensive cooling system for lithium-ion EV batteries.

The space needed for this cooling system prevents its use for energy storage.Recyclability is yet another issue with lithium-ion batteries.

It costs a lot to recycle lithium-ion batteries since the bulk of its parts are not biocompatible.

Not to mention, the battery's power density is low.

Graphene as a battery Material

Graphene as a Battery Material is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms with a relative surface area of 2,630 m2/g.

It excels in storing charges through extended cycles with practically little deterioration.

Graphene possesses bonds that gives it a tensile strength. It is more than four times stronger than that of steel. In addition to being very transparent, flexible, and a superior conductor of electricity and heat.

These features make graphene an excellent candidate for both supercapacitors and batteries.

Graphene  can recharge completely in a matter of minutes, but they cannot store as much energy as a battery.

GAC Motor

In 2014, a Chinese  named GAC Motor Co. Ltd. began developing a graphene battery.

The business introduced the battery (Graphene as a Battery Material) to the public in 2019. It started testing it in actual automobiles , in 2020.

The battery is however currently undergoing testing in preparation for its mass production in 2021,

In September of this year, GAC Group will begin installing these batteries in vehicles.

3D Graphene (3DG)

The company that developed the battery refers to it as a "super-fast charging battery" and it makes use of 3D graphene (3DG).

GAC is not revealing the type of graphene or the precise manufacturing method being utilized.

The 3DG manufacturing processes' intellectual property rights are solely owned by GAC Group.

Graphene aerogel, graphene foam (similar to laser-induced graphene), and many-layered graphene that is extremely similar to graphite and can all be referred to as "3D graphene" because it is a general phrase.

These are just some of the possible forms the material could take. As time goes on and more people utilize the battery and we will likely learn more about how it works.

The cost of the graphene as a Battery Material utilized in this approach is known to be one-tenth of what it would be if "regular procedures" were applied.

Lithium-Sulfur Battery with Graphene

 

The end of 2021 saw a turning point in the development of graphene hybrid batteries with the declaration by the California-based business Lyten said it had developed a graphene battery for electric cars with energy density three times that of traditional lithium-ion batteries.

The batteries that will be used are lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, which experts have long heralded as the upcoming rechargeable battery technology.

However, the problem with Real-world Li-S battery applications are the soluble polysulfide species formation during discharge cycles.The intermediate species that diffuse between the anode and cathode bring on internal short circuits.

Shuttle effect

 

The shuttling effect, is a phenomenon that contributes to low efficiency and quick capacity fading of Li-S cells.

To solve this problem, Lyten added a 3D graphene membrane to the sulfur cathode. It served as a good separator and slowed the rate of cyclic capacity decay.

According to reports, the LytCell EV product has an energy density of 900 Wh/kg. A LytCell prototype can resist more than 1,400 charge-discharge cycles.

Reducing battery manufacturing costs of EVs

The ban on all new sales of gasoline and diesel cars in Europe and the U.S. by 2035 has caused a rise in demand for reliable and cheap EVs.

Anaphite, a graphene technology company based in Bristol, has raised £4.1 million in a seed round to help EV Manufacturers have overcome key commercial barriers to the use of Li-ion batteries.

They will eventually use the funds to launch license negotiations with a cell or material supplier and to construct a 100 kg/day materials demonstration reactor.

By 2028, Anaphite expects to use its technology in the production of electric vehicles.

Non-Flammable Li-Battery

Li-ion batteries can catch fire when they short, which has raised questions about their suitability for use in devices. However, using graphene as a battery material can result in non-flammable Li-batteries.

This is brought on by the Li-ion battery's flammable electrolyte.

American company Nanotech Energy has developed a non-flammable Li-ion battery pack made of graphene that is also environmentally safe.

They employed Graphene as a Battery Material  and developed OrganoLyteTM, a low-cost nonflammable electrolyte.

The battery has an energy density of 162.5 Wh/kg. It can last more than 1400 cycles (nearly 10 years) at 80% capacity.

The battery is completely fire-resistant and can be used in any weather conditions, as Nanotech Energy has developed it to be so. Traditional Li-batteries, by contrast, are only capable of withstanding 300–500 cycles.

Nanotech Energy is currently developing the battery for use in military and other electric vehicle applications.

Graphene as the future of EVs

 

Graphene as the future of EVs When GAC Motors announced its AION V car, which includes a graphene battery with a range of 1000 km and a recharge time of 8 minutes,

It represented a breakthrough in the field of graphene batteries.

Graphene batteries do not overheat or explode, so they do not require a cooling system, which means that space can be freed up for energy storage. With proper research and development efforts, graphene batteries will have the potential to surpass conventional batteries in the future in terms of adoption.