All-Solid-State - The Future of Battery Technology?
The age of electric is here and scientific advancement in battery technology is the foundation of the upcoming monopoly. It seems quite obvious to me, that the firms that are ale to develop the best and useable battery technology without infringing others will stand to gain a sizeable market share in the coming years. Tesla made strategic acquisitions and have been pushing to develop solid-state battery and ultra-capacitors through Maxwell Technologies. It’s still fair game however, and research and development projects are being poured into battery development across the world.
//R&D Breakthrough//
Clever minds at Korean firm Samsung have a number of research institutes across the world, a quick search on their website reveals a total of 14 R&D facilities around the world and a handful of AI-dedicated centres. I’ve talked about solid-state batteries before and recent news unveils “all-solid-state” battery (ASSBs) technology. All-solid implies that the liquid electrolytes have been removed entirely in this new design. Soli-state batteries have been around for many years, the main benefits gained by their usage lie within great capacity and charge times. Yet the biggest problem is actual real-world use, degradation occurs during every charge/discharge cycle, eventually leading to short circuit. Traditional Lithium Ion batteries currently used nationwide have been shown to suffer from around 20% performance decrease after a thousand charges, an acceptable lifespan.
//Better All Around//
Samsung’s scientists established the use of silver-carbon to be degradation resistant (more about growth of structures that cause battery degradation here). Carbon used within the battery would serve as a separator between sulphide solid electrolytes (SSEs) and lithium metal. This configuration also allows a significant increase in energy density, almost allowing double the standard capacity seen in batteries. Used in Vehicles, a car could see up to 500 miles per charge all the while staying safe from degradation for over 1000 charge/discharge cycles. Highlights of the technology also put safety factors of ASSBs in the spotlight, no flammable liquids are present in design and would be a safer alternative in the event of collision.
//Cost and Adoption Issue//
It’s fascinating that objective orientated research can deliver a potential solution that is almost more efficient in every manner. I would like to see additional tests and real-world use. I have held off going the electric route for a while, interstate driving is a long road and waiting for my car to charge every few hundred miles would be problematic. If ASSBs can be seen to be a cheaper, safer and highly efficient solution then it may solve my current gripes with electric vehicle technology. Climate change is an important matter to tackel and better battery tech that removes friction in adoption is a step in the right direction. Perhaps the electric vehicle market needs to mature a little more before production of such batteries can escape the initial sink of its current manufacturing costs. It remains to be seen if another configuration of ASSBs can top this new prototype, but iterative improvement is to be expected from here on out.
Sources
https://www.thedrive.com/tech/32575/samsung-claims-new-solid-state-battery-tech-can-give-evs-a-500-mile-range
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-020-0575-z
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-presents-groundbreaking-all-solid-state-battery-technology-to-nature-energy
https://research.samsung.com/global-rnd-network