BMW Group has signed a €540-million contract with China’s Ganfeng Lithium for the supply of raw lithium from mines in Australia. The carmaker has restructured its supply chains for its upcoming fifth generation of battery cells. From 2020 on, it will directly source both lithium and cobalt. The raw materials will then pass on to… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "lithium metal"
IBM unveils heavy metal-free battery that performs better than Li-ion
IBM Research has unveiled new battery materials extracted from seawater that it says could help eliminate the need for dangerous heavy metals in battery production. Use of the three new proprietary materials create a battery chemistry that does not use heavy metals or other substances that suffer from concerns about sourcing. Beyond the environmental and… Read more »
PNNL scientists pinpoint cause of dendrites in lithium batteries
Scientists at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Lab have uncovered a “root” cause of the growth of needle-like structures – known as dendrites and whiskers – that plague lithium batteries and can cause short circuit, failure, and even fire. Dendrites are tiny, rigid tree-like structures that can grow inside a lithium battery. Their needle-like projections… Read more »
Argonne develops electrolyte for next-gen lithium battery with silicon anodes
Researchers at the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new electrolyte mixture and a simple additive that could have a place in the next generation of lithium-ion batteries that feature silicon anodes. The report findings were published in July in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Scientists have long seen the silicon anode… Read more »
Imec doubles energy density of its Li-metal batteries to 400 Wh/liter
Imec, a Belgian research firm focused on nanoelectronics, has unveiled a solid-state Li-metal battery cell with an energy density of 400 Wh/liter at a charging speed of 0.5C (2 hours). As part of a larger engineering roadmap for solid-state batteries, imec aims to surpass wet Li-ion battery performance and reach 1,000 Wh/L at 2-3C by… Read more »
Intumescent battery housing improves lithium-ion battery safety
Sponsored by Pyrophobic Systems Ltd. By Dr. Sean Luo Pyrophobic Systems Ltd. has developed and commercialized an innovative intumescent battery housing LithiumPrevent™ to mitigate the risk of fire and explosion and improve the safety in the operational use, storage, logistics, manufacturing and testing of lithium (ion) batteries. Battery Fire Containment The LithiumPrevent™ battery housing is… Read more »
WEBINAR: Modeling Capacity Fade of Lithium-Ion Cells
If you want to learn about creating a mathematical model of a lithium-ion cell, then tune into this webinar featuring guest speaker Ralph White of the University of South Carolina. This presentation will focus on the development of the equations used to produce a physics-based model of a lithium-ion cell that includes capacity fade due… Read more »
Blackwater founder launches fund to invest in EV battery metal mining
Erik Prince, founder of the controversial private military company Blackwater, has launched a fund to invest in metals used in EV batteries, he told the Financial Times. The fund aims to raise up to $500 million, and will invest in deposits of metals such as cobalt, copper and lithium, largely in Africa and Asia. Prince… Read more »
Waterloo researchers achieve reversible four-electron conversion with lithium-oxygen batteries
Scientists from the University of Waterloo have devised several new electrochemical processes which greatly increase the lifespan and stability of lithium-oxygen batteries. On paper, Li-O2 batteries have high energy densities and low weights. However, they also have internal reactions (involving superoxides and peroxides) that slowly corrode their carbon cathodes. The superoxide also destroys organic electrolytes in the… Read more »
Chinese and Chilean lithium giants make $4-billion stock purchase deal
China-based Tianqi Lithium has purchased a substantial number of shares in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), which claims to be the world’s largest lithium producer, in a deal worth approximately $4.07 billion. Chinese companies have been on a lithium buying spree recently, as prices of the “white gold” steadily climb. Tianqi and SQM… Read more »