Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a conductive polymer coating that could enable longer-lasting and more powerful lithium-ion batteries for EVs.<\/p>\n
The lab explains in a press release that the coating, called HOS-PFM, simultaneously conducts both electrons and ions. That, in turn, would ensure battery stability and high charge\/discharge rates while extending battery life.<\/p>\n
“The advance opens up a new approach to developing EV batteries that are more affordable and easy to manufacture,” says Gao Liu, a senior scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area who led the development of the material. The coating also shows promise as a battery binder that could extend the life of a lithium-ion battery from an average of ten to about 15 years, he says.<\/p>\n
HOS-PFM is made of a nontoxic polymer. According to Berkeley Lab, the alkyl end-chains melt away at about 450 degrees Celsius, creating vacant “sticky” sites that “grab” onto silicon or aluminium materials at the atomic level. The PFM polymer chains then self-assemble into “spaghetti-like strands” called “hierarchically ordered structures,” or HOS. These act as “an atomic expressway,” on which lithium ions can “hitch a ride with electrons. […] These lithium ions and electrons move in synchronicity along the aligned conductive polymer chains.”<\/p>\n
The HOS-PFM coating could enable the use of electrodes containing up to 80 per cent silicon. Such a high silicon content could increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by at least 30 per cent, Liu says. And because silicon is cheaper than graphite, the batteries could also be more affordable.<\/p>\n
Next, researchers plan to work with companies to scale HOS-PFM for mass production.<\/p>\n