Now imagine a lightweight battery that looks like a sheet of paper. This is exactly what Kansas State University has come up with: a paper-like battery that could be used to assist with space exploration.
To come up with this novel device, the battery electrode was developed using silicon oxycarbide-glass together with graphene. Graphene is a form of carbon that is thin, transparent, light-weight, strong, and highly conductive.
These properties have led to the battery being around 10 percent lighter than any other battery electrodes available.
The new battery can achieve 100 percent cycling efficiency over in excess of 1,000 charge discharge cycles. The battery can function at low temperatures (in tests, the performance was not affected at minus 15 degrees Celsius). The low temperature use should help the battery function in space.
A further advantage is that the battery can be made for a relatively low-cost, manufactured from by-product materials discarded by the silicone industry.
The battery was developed by Professor Gurpreet Singh and the research is published in Nature Communications, in the paper “Silicon oxycarbide glass-graphene composite paper electrode for long-cycle lithium-ion batteries.”
In related battery news, NIST researchers recently modified and pulverized a promising group of chemical compounds to create a series of solid-state rechargeable batteries. The advantage with these compounds is safety, for they are stable solid materials that will not leak. Moreover, they are not flammable. More about this can be found in the journal Energy Storage Materials, with the paper “Stabilizing lithium and sodium fast-ion conduction in solid polyhedral-borate salts at device-relevant temperatures.”
