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 Researchers at the University of Cambridge on Thursday announced
the creation of a laboratory demonstration model of a lithium-oxygen
battery that overcomes many of the barriers that have held back the
development of this technology.
They said the battery boasts very high energy density, is about 93
percent efficient - better than previous efforts - and can be
recharged more than 2,000 times.
Clare Grey, a Cambridge professor of materials chemistry who led the
research, called it "a step towards a practical battery, albeit with
many hurdles ahead." The researchers said it could be more than a
decade before a practical lithium-oxygen battery is ready, in part
because the battery's ability to charge and discharge is too low.
In cars, the range for a compact, fully charged battery has been
unable to reach that of a full tank of gasoline in a regular engine
because current lithium-ion batteries do not pack that kind of power
punch.
The lithium-ion rechargeable battery, first introduced in 1991,
helped power the portable electronics revolution including laptops
and smartphones as well as powering some vehicles.
Lithium-oxygen batteries, also called lithium-air batteries, have
the potential to deliver the desired power thanks to a high energy
density - a measure of energy stored for a given weight - that could
be 10 times that of lithium-ion batteries and approach that of
gasoline. They also could be a fifth the cost and a fifth the weight
of lithium-ion batteries. But problems have beset lithium-oxygen
batteries that affect their capacity and lifetime, including
troublesome efficiency, performance, chemical reaction and potential
safety issues and the limitation of needing pure oxygen rather than
plain old air.
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The Cambridge demonstrator battery employs different chemistry than
previous work on lithium-air batteries, for example using lithium
hydroxide rather than lithium peroxide. It also uses an electrode
made of graphene, a form of carbon. The result was a more stable and
efficient battery.
Grey said it is too early to gauge lithium-oxygen battery range
limits in vehicles.
Intellectual property from the research is owned by Cambridge
Enterprises, the university's commercialization arm, and has been
patented, Grey said.
The research was published in the journal Science.
(Reporting by Will Dunham)
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