Recently, the University of Twente in the Netherlands has developed a new lithium-ion battery that is charged 10 times faster than the current battery. This is largely due to the brand new anode. Scientists at the University of Twente have made an anode from a material called nickel niobate. This material has an "open and regular" crystal structure with the same, repetitive channels, making it ideal for ion transport.
As the battery cycles, lithium ions move back and forth between the two electrodes, but not all lithium ions complete the journey. This causes electrochemically inactive lithium "islands" to form between the two electrodes and disconnect from the electrodes, and these clumps cause the storage capacity of the device to drop or even cause it to catch fire.
These stability problems arise from needle-like protrusions called "dendrites" formed on the lithium metal anode during charging, causing the battery's performance to degrade, fail, or even catch fire. Lee and his colleagues tried to overcome the problem by swapping the battery's liquid electrolyte for a pair of solid electrolytes, which are layered together in BLT-style sandwich form and safely control and contain dendrites as they form.
The new lithium battery uses nickel niobate (NiNb2O6) as the material. Nickel niobate has a unique crystal structure with the same and repeated ion transport channels. In terms of material manufacturing, it also does not need to be assembled in a clean room. In addition, nickel niobate is denser and more energy dense than graphite, and has a better chance of creating lighter and simpler commercial batteries.
In tests, the team found that it retained 82 percent of its capacity after 10,000 cycles, and most encouragingly, the current density it demonstrated could one day allow an electric car to be charged in 20 minutes.
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