Research Aims To Improve Lithium-Based Batteries

In recent reports, researcher’s claims that they have find the way to improve the performance of lithium-ion based batteries, which can be main discovery for the smartphones and laptop manufactures because now they can get the freedom from major disadvantage of laptops and smartphones as they have very less battery backup.

A simple research clear the complex science, which is related to formation of dendrites and these dendrites are the main reason which can make the lithium-ion batteries to fail, but now with this discovery these batteries can be safer, longer-lasting and can be recharged in within few minutes instead of hours as it was earlier.

The dendrites are able to form different kind of electrodes that may continue to grow until they cause an internal short circuit, which are the main reason behind the failure and possible fire of batteries. All the batteries have two electrodes, which know as a cathode and an anode, separated by an insulating polymer, which is known as separator.

All the dendrites grow in needlelike small shapes, which may breach the separating barrier by destroying the operation or full battery. In present, teams of researchers are using the numerical modeling to find the ways to understand the dendrites and to find the better way to design more effective separators. According to R. Edwin García, who is an associate professor in Purdue University and working for materials engineering department, “Presently, we are experimenting to define the fundamental technique behind these complex objects as well as science, so that in collaboration with experimentalists our team can make better batteries that do not have same problem”.

This simulations is also explains that how sometimes dendrites detach from battery electrodes and they convert into floating deposits, which can be dangerous scenario as in this situation battery can catch a fire.

Team of researchers have developed a modeling tool, which helps the battery makers to design better separators, as pores still exist between polymer fibers in the form of separator and due to this the researchers have modeled that hw pore size and different morphology of the same separator can influence the dendrite development process.

As per García, “Our team has found the interesting relationship between the geometry of the separator and the performance of same separators and now we are thinking its first step to improve the separator”. If one can control the dendrites so it could lead towards the longer-lasting and safe usage. In few batteries dendrites are formed by lithium formations, which grow while recharging the batteries, or adding the layers which resemble with tree rings. Because they grow faster, so whenever they exposed in high current for fast recharging so dendrites limit recharging speed.

In the National Science Foundation, work is going on and researchers are putting the every finding of experiment together, the separator, and particles of anode material, so that they can draw conclusion and on the basis of that they can have a complete commercial system.