As formula one motorsport bring new inventions into the daily life of car owners, space technology has a strong influence on material technology, including batteries. NASA, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is leading a research program called SABERS. aiming to study and develop innovative new materials for solid-state batteries.
The SABERS team realised solid-state architecture allowed them to change the construction and packaging of their battery to save weight and increase the energy it can store. During the past year, the team successfully increased their battery’s discharge rate by a factor of 10 – and then by another factor of five – inching researchers closer to their goal of powering a large vehicle.
These new materials also enable additional design changes. Instead of housing each individual battery cell inside its own steel casing, as liquid batteries do, all the cells in SABERS’s battery can be stacked vertically inside one casing.
“Not only does this design eliminate 30–40% of the battery’s weight, it also allows us to double or even triple the energy it can store, far exceeding the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries,” Rocco Viggiano, principal investigator for SABERS, said.
Another battery technology finds its roots in Hubble, the space telescope. The used batteries now make a new career on Earth. Nickel-hydrogen batteries can provide more energy storage per square foot of floor space than alternatives because they can be stacked higher without risking fire, even in extreme temperatures. The manufacturer EnerVenue’s Chief Technology Advisor Dr. Yi Cui developed a technique to remove platinum from the batteries, reducing costs of technology. The batteries will work at nearly 90% capacity after 20 years.
Thomas Miller, an engineer at NASA, said that the nickel-hydrogen batteries surpassed everything else in a comparison between technologies.”
Photo: NASA researchers John Connell & Yi Lin (seated) check the performance level of a new cathode for solid-state batteries. Credit: NASA
