Increasing by 20 Times

The mimic of lithium-ion battery electrodes that resembles the structure of spider´s webs.(photo courtesy: Sungkyunkwan University)
The mimic of lithium-ion battery electrodes that resembles the structure of spider´s webs.(photo courtesy: Sungkyunkwan University)

 

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on September 7 that a research team led by Professor Park Ho-seok from Sungkyunkwan University succeeded in developing lithium-ion battery electrode by copying the structure of spider’s webs.

A lithium-ion battery is widely used in smartphones and electric vehicles. However, various high-capacity materials, such as silicon and transition metal oxide, are being developed as graphite, which is currently used as a cathode material, has a limited capacity. The problem is these materials has slow charging and discharging speeds and lower functions due to volume expansion caused by when charged and discharged. 

The research team developed the new electrode by fixing high-capacity iron oxide nanoparticles with three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanotube (CNT) networks just like the way spiders catch insects with its webs. As a result, it was able to maintain the capacity of more than 88 percent even when charging and discharging over 300 times in high capacity of over 820mAh.

The new electrode showed the rate capability of more than 70 percent even when raising the charging speeds by 20 times.

The research team assembled the web-shaped 3D CNT networks by creating a gap with ice crystals and succeeded in collecting nanoparticles by making the surface sticky thorough ozonization.

Professor Park said, “We have developed a fundamental technology that can address the slow charge and discharge speeds of lithium-ion batteries through the bio-mimetic technology. We will be able to apply it to various high-capacity secondary battery materials.”

The findings of the research were published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials on the previous day.

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