French company Nawa Technologies stated that it has developed a new electrode design that is expected to fundamentally improve the chemical performance of existing and future batteries. Prior to this, the company has been well-known in the supercapacitor market. But now, the same technology has also been applied to lithium-ion batteries. In addition to up to 3 times the energy density and 10 times the performance, it also has a faster charging speed, up to 5 times the battery life, and quite good cost-effectiveness.
3D nanostructured electrodes have many advantages
The focus of the research is on the way the active material is held in the electrode and the route of travel when the ion transfers charge. Take the current typical activated carbon electrode as an example, which is mainly composed of a mixture of powder, additives and binder.
In the case of carbon nanotubes, they are usually glued in the form of "tangled spaghetti" to provide a random, chaotic, and often blocked path for current-carrying ions (flow to the current collector under load ).
The world's fastest electrode
On the other hand, Nawa's vertical arrangement of carbon nanotubes can create a comb-like cathode or anode structure, and grow hundreds of billions of straight, highly conductive nanotubes per square centimeter.
These carbon nanotubes, which are firmly fixed on the tiny electrodes, can then be coated with active materials (lithium ions or other), which greatly reduces the distance the charge needs to travel in or out of the battery.
Since each lithium spot is more or less attached to the nanotubes that act as direct roads (or partial current collectors), the mean free travel of ions can be greatly reduced.
Pascal Boulanger, founder and CEO of the company, said that with this new solution, lithium ions only need to move a few nanometers on the material instead of a few micrometers for conventional electrodes.
Ever since, Nawa Technologies was able to fundamentally increase the power density of new lithium-ion batteries. Even a small battery can achieve 10 times the charge and discharge performance of the past. With suitable charging infrastructure, the power can be replenished from 0% to 80% in 5 minutes.
Thanks to the ultra-light nano-stents and fewer adhesive/additive gaps, the battery body can also be lighter and more compact (2~3 times the volume and weight improvement). In addition, the rigid nanotube array and the wide surface area can greatly alleviate the performance degradation over time (5 times the lifetime).
Finally, Pascal Boulanger said that through cooperation with lithium battery companies, the company plans to let products that use some new technologies be tested in the market from 2022 to 2023.