New technology will allow electric cars to be charged in seconds

A new type of high-capacity hybrid sodium-ion battery could power mobile devices, electric cars and spacecraft in the future. The most interesting thing is that it will take much less time than now, writes Energy Storage Materials.

So far, the technology has been whittled down to the size of a small coin-type battery that can be charged in seconds. However, the developers plan to increase its size so that it can be used in various areas.

How does it work?

By combining anode materials used in conventional batteries with cathodes from supercapacitors, batteries that can store and release energy at very high rates, researchers have created a new type of sodium ion battery that offers both high capacity and fast charging capabilities without sacrificing anything.

They looked for a way to overcome the current shortcomings of sodium-ion energy storage, which is touted as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, and described their results on March 29. in a published study. The fact is that until now, the output power and capacity of such batteries have been lower than that of lithium-ion batteries. In addition, they needed to be charged longer, which limits the possibilities of their use. Therefore, scientists have set out to eliminate these shortcomings.

According to the researchers, their batteries contain about 1,000 times more sodium than lithium. As a result, they can be cheaper and more sustainable to produce than the lithium-ion batteries currently used to power most electric vehicles and all of our small electronics. In addition, lithium is very expensive, its production is controlled by only a few countries, and it is subject to political blackmail.

So the researchers created a prototype, creating a new type of anode from ultra-fine particles of iron sulfide embedded in sulfur-doped carbon and graphene. This improved conductivity and energy storage.

For the cathode, they used a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF), an organometallic framework in which metal ions are combined with organic molecules to create a porous crystalline structure. This improved the charging speed of the battery.

According to the researchers, the assembled cell can store more energy per unit of weight than current sodium-ion batteries and can charge and discharge energy much faster, more than 100 times the efficiency of existing technologies.

The battery has maintained its efficiency and performance for 5000 charge and discharge cycles, which means it can be used repeatedly for a long time without wear.

This is very important in areas where batteries need to operate for long periods of time without degradation, such as electrical energy storage systems and electric vehicles.

In comparison, many lithium-ion batteries used in, for example, commercial laptops can only last up to 500 charge cycles before they begin to degrade.