Scientists at Germany’s Jülich Institute for Energy and Climate Research say they have created a solid-state lithium-ion battery that allows currents when charging and discharging up to 10 times greater than previously seen.
Low current, a consequence of the principally imperfect joining of two solids, is regarded as one of the key hurdles in the development of solid-state batteries.
Previous solid-state batteries have taken 10 to 12 hours to fully charge. Jülich’s scientists say their new cell is able to achieve “charging rates greater than 3C, at a capacity of 50 mAh/g, meaning that the cell takes less than an hour” to recharge.
The advancements made at Jülich have been achieved by using components made from phosphate compounds that are “well matched both chemically and mechanically”, the scientific team said. These are reported to be reasonably priced and easy to process, and are largely free of toxic or harmful substances.
The research centre’s Dr Shicheng Yu said “in initial tests, the new battery cell was very stable over 500 charge and discharge cycles and retained over 84% of its original capacity”.
Institute director Professor Rüdiger Eichel said “the energy density is already very high at around 120 mAh/g, even if it is still slightly below that of today’s lithium-ion batteries”.
