Energy Storage

A type of battery first invented nearly five decades ago could catapult to the forefront of energy storage technologies, thanks to a new finding by researchers.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed an energy-efficient recycling process that restores used cathodes from spent lithium ion batteries and makes them work just as good as new. The process involves harvesting the degraded cathode particles from a used battery and then boiling and heat treating them. Researchers built new batteries using the regenerated cathodes. Charge storage capacity, charging time and battery lifetime were all restored to their original levels.

The rapid development of flexible and wearable electronics is giving rise to an exciting range of applications, from smart watches and flexible displays—such as smart phones, tablets, and TV—to smart fabrics, smart glass, transdermal patches, sensors, and more. With this rise, demand has increased for high-performance flexible batteries. Up to now, however, researchers have had difficulty obtaining both good flexibility and high energy density concurrently in lithium-ion batteries.

Scientists have created a customizable, fabric-like power source that can be cut, folded or stretched without losing its function.

Cleanvolt Energy is a US start-up that is developing a new type of supercapacitor based on organometallic molecules capable of storing up to 4x the energy density and 22x the power density of Li-ion batteries.

Shanghai Mi Fang Electronics was founded in 2015. The company focuses on printing various electronic components/devices such as microprocessor, display, PV and battery by a single microcomputer-based printer, which can be applied in IoT, wearables, add-in manufacturing, PV electricity generation, new integrated circuits, etc.

New research has found an effective approach to replacing graphite in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries using silicon, by reinforcing the anode's structure with graphene girders. This could more than double the life of rechargeable lithium-ion based batteries and also increase the capacity delivered by those batteries.

IDTechEx has attended CES 2018. This article will show the highlights in various emerging technologies.

Enevate is a US start-up that is about to launch its fast-charging, high energy, silicon-based batteries. The company claims a 750 Wh/L energy density and up to 50% longer runtime than its competitors.

The University of Bath is part of a consortium of academic and industry partners awarded Government funding to conduct research aimed at overcoming battery challenges to accelerate the electric vehicle revolution.

Liten CEA Tech showed a printed battery at CES 2018

Lancey, founded in 2015, is a French company that makes the first electric space heater with an integrated rechargeable battery.

CDT presented a variety of technology at CES 2018

Lithium metal-based batteries have the potential to turn the battery industry upside down. With the theoretically ultra-high capacity of lithium metal used by itself, this new type of battery could power everything from personal devices to cars.

Researchers at the Department of Materials Engineering and Metallurgy, University Cambridge have developed a new polymeric network material that enables the production of a flexible supercapacitor with high specific capacitance and cycling stability.

Fuel cells have the potential to be a clean and efficient way to run cars, computers, and power stations, but the cost of producing them is limiting their use. That's because a key component of the most common fuel cells is a catalyst made from the precious metal platinum.

LGChem is the world's largest Li-ion manufacturer. The company owns battery plants in South Korea, China, the US, and Poland.

CATL is a Sino-Japanese company manufacturing Li-ion batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles. The company has the ambitious objective of reaching a production of 100 GWh/year by 2020.

Scientists have observed how lithium moves inside individual nanoparticles that make up batteries. The finding could help companies develop batteries that charge faster and last longer

IDTechEx Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop, explores the importance of eliminating batteries, with other energy harvesting techniques being increasingly more viable.