Hong Kong University of Science and Technology overcomes problems, new batteries usher in technological breakthroughs

Although compared with the batteries of previous years, the performance of lithium-ion batteries has been significantly improved, and has become the mainstream of the market. However, affected by market demand, many scientists, research institutions or companies around the world are actively looking for new battery solutions. Many scientific research institutions or companies are focusing on new materials such as graphene. It is true that if graphene batteries can be successfully developed, it will shake the entire energy field, but the development of graphene batteries is relatively difficult. At present, no team has found a relatively perfect graphene battery design scheme. There are not a few cases of designing next-generation batteries based on lithium-ion batteries using other materials. Recently, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has overcome related problems and produced a new type of battery. According to media reports, Cheong Ying Chan, a professor in the Department of Engineering and Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in China, and ZHAOTianshou, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in China, formed a research team to propose a novel cathode design concept for lithium-sulfur batteries. I understand that lithium-sulfur batteries will become a substitute for lithium-ion batteries in a short period of time. The data shows that compared to lithium-ion batteries, the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries can exceed 500Wh/kg, while the limit energy density of lithium-ion batteries is only 300Wh/kg. The higher the energy density of the battery, the longer the battery power time. Under normal circumstances, an electric vehicle powered by a lithium-ion battery has a cruising range of 400 kilometers. But when electric vehicles are powered by lithium-sulfur batteries, their cruising range can be extended to 600 to 800 kilometers. It can be seen that the large-scale commercial use of lithium-sulfur batteries will be an important change in the global electric vehicle field. It is worth mentioning that compared with traditional lithium-ion batteries, the main component of lithium-sulfur batteries, sulfur, also has the advantages of abundant reserves, light weight, low price, and harmlessness to the environment. However, lithium-sulfur batteries also have certain shortcomings, that is, the shuttle effect of the polysulfide of lithium-sulfur batteries will cause lithium to be corroded and battery cathode materials to leak, which will shorten the battery life. In response to this, the research team mentioned by the author in the previous article proposed a new cathode design concept. That is, sulfur is uniformly embedded in the highly oriented macropores, and at the same time, the macropores are embedded with rich sub-active sites, which tightly adsorb polysulfides, thereby eliminating the lithium metal corrosion effect caused by the shuttle effect. This design can greatly improve the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries. At the same time, the professor of HKUST also said that this technological breakthrough means that a new generation of batteries has taken a big step in practical applications.