An MIT spinout is preparing to commercialize a novel rechargable lithium metal battery that offers double the energy capacity of the lithium ion batteries that power many of today’s consumer electronics.
Founded in 2012 by MIT alumnus and former postdoc Qichao Hu ’07, SolidEnergy Systems has developed an “anode-free” lithium metal battery with several material advances that make it twice as energy-dense, yet just as safe and long-lasting as the lithium ion batteries used in smartphones, electric cars, wearables, drones, and other devices.
“With two-times the energy density, we can make a battery half the size, but that still lasts the same amount of time, as a lithium ion battery. Or we can make a battery the same size as a lithium ion battery, but now it will last twice as long,” says Hu, who co-invented the battery at MIT and is now CEO of SolidEnergy.
The battery essentially swaps out a common battery anode material, graphite, for very thin, high-energy lithium-metal foil, which can hold more ions — and, therefore, provide more energy capacity. Chemical modifications to the electrolyte also make the typically short-lived and volatile lithium metal batteries rechargeable and safer to use. Moreover, the batteries are made using existing lithium ion manufacturing equipment, which makes them scalable.
In October 2015, SolidEnergy demonstrated the first-ever working prototype of a rechargeable lithium metal smartphone battery with double energy density, which earned them more than $12 million from investors. At half the size of the lithium ion battery used in an iPhone 6, it offers 2.0 amp hours, compared with the lithium ion battery’s 1.8 amp hours.
SolidEnergy plans to bring the batteries to smartphones and wearables in early 2017, and to electric cars in 2018. But the first application will be drones, coming this November. “Several customers are using drones and balloons to provide free Internet to the developing world, and to survey for disaster relief,” Hu says. “It’s a very exciting and noble application.”...
Read more: Doubling battery power of consumer electronics | MIT News
Thanks, Shawn: great stuff. I've also been reading about wrapping LiO batteries in graphene, which is supposed to help with energy density and quick recharge. I think we're in for some interesting technology changes over the next 10 years or so.
--Ed--
Sorry for the skepticism, but is this just another one of those "battery breakthrough" announcements that never eventuate? Helps keep funds coming in I suppose.
On the other hand, I wish them great success!
I'll be waiting for the 18650 form of the new battery which has many applications other then smart phones! Security guards carry those high lum flashlights now seen available by mail order as well as other types of devices where seeing the life extended as far as the working battery time will cut down the need for all those additional batteries while charging the others.
Extending battery time is also cruticial for those constantly on the go. Bringing up the battery time for a tablet if not laptop from either the 2hr. or 4hr. time to 8-10hrs. would be a task well done.
In other MIT news lately another brain storm seems to be forthcoming.
MIT Researchers Radically Boost Wi-Fi With Smart Routers That Talk To Each Other
Tech lets wireless access points cancel out interference, providing a speed boost for crowded venues. It might help cellphone towers, too.
[Photo: Flickr user Axel Schwenke; App Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures ("Wall-E", 2008)]
Sean Captain 08.23.16 12:18 PM
Look at the night sky on a camping trip and the stars are everywhere. Look from a city full of lights and you barely see any. The disappointment is similar when you go from a Wi-Fi network in isolation to one crowded with dozens, maybe hundreds, of other users. The problem, in both cases, is interference: signals crashing into each other. Adding more Wi-Fi access points, or APs, to extend the coverage area can cause more collisions, since they are all fighting over the same limited spectrum.
Now MIT researchers say they've found a fix: getting APs to anticipate how they will collide and tweak the signals to undo the damage. In today's world of busy Wi-Fi networks, the way to avoid a crash is to take turns, like cars meeting at a four-way stop sign.
"If you're the only person, you get to send [data] all the time," says Hariharan Rahul, a visiting researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. "If there are two people you get to send ... about half the time. As there are more and more people, you get less and less opportunities to send."
see full report
Last edited by Night Hawk; 24 Aug 2016 at 10:50. Reason: additional information added
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