Battery degradation is one of the main concerns in electric vehicles and smartphones during their lifespan. In response, a group of researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new type of battery that promises to operate at 100% capacity after many charge cycles.
Moreover, the battery promises to maintain its performance even under strong continuous airflows, which shows that it can function under different environmental conditions.
The DICP researchers developed aqueous organic flow batteries (AOFB) constructed with naphthalene-based organic materials. In their tests, these batteries achieved 850 charge cycles while retaining 99.95% of their capacity.
A particularly curious fact is that the team conducted the test with the battery constantly exposed to air. In this case, it survived 600 charge cycles and retained almost all of its useful life.
For more context, the most optimistic smartphone manufacturers, such as Apple, say their devices can go through about a thousand charging cycles while maintaining 80% of total capacity. Reaching almost 100% capacity after 850 cycles would be a spectacular milestone.
With this research, investigators aim to shine a light on the environmental impact of current lithium batteries. Different battery materials like this organic solution offer a promising future.
As usual in this kind of research, the conditions of use apply to the laboratory scenario. No substantial plans exist to introduce this new type of battery on a mass scale in EVs or smartphones.
Image | Hasan Albari
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