Northwestern Polytechnical University and other lithium-carbon dioxide batteries have improved battery life by nearly 7 times

The team of Xie Keyu from the Northwestern Polytechnical University's Nano Energy Materials Research Center has developed a lithium-carbon dioxide battery with the same volume endurance improved by nearly 7 times and the material is more environmentally friendly. Related research results were published in "Advanced Materials" and "Advanced Energy Materials".

According to Xie Keyu, the biggest advantage of lithium-carbon dioxide batteries is that they have a higher energy density than lithium batteries that have been commercially used in large quantities. Experimental data shows that its capacity ratio is more than 7 times that of lithium batteries. It is assumed that the mobile phone batteries currently used can last for 3 days. In the future, the same weight and volume of lithium-carbon dioxide batteries may be used for 21 days or longer. In addition, lithium-carbon dioxide batteries use carbon dioxide gas to provide electrical energy. In the entire energy conversion process, they are more environmentally friendly than traditional lithium batteries. In some specific environments with high carbon dioxide concentration, such as extreme environments such as the surface of Mars, the deep and deep sea, etc., the use of lithium-carbon dioxide batteries for exploration can "in-place materials".

In terms of materials, the team of Xie Keyu and Loh Kian Ping, a professor at the National University of Singapore, jointly designed a structurally stable covalent organic framework. For the first time, they introduced it as a gas battery diffusion layer into a lithium-carbon dioxide battery, which effectively improved The battery's charge-discharge cycle efficiency has greatly alleviated the problem of slow mass transfer during battery charge and discharge.

"In the follow-up, we may do some protection around the lithium metal anode to better improve the battery cycle efficiency." Team member Zhou Lijiao said. In addition, the team will try to replace the existing electrolyte with a solid polymer in the future to provide more application scenarios for lithium-carbon dioxide batteries. (Reporter Zhang Xingyong)