Japan has developed a porous aluminum body that can triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries
Sumitomo Electric Industries developed Aluminum (Al) porous body AluminumSermet. According to the company's analysis, the use as a current collector for lithium (Li) ion rechargeable batteries and capacitors can increase the capacity of these power storage devices. In the future, it plans to establish a small processing line in the company's Osaka plant to develop for mass production. The newly developed porous body has a three-dimensional mesh structure. The pores are spherical, and the pores are connected to each other, so they will not be blocked. The highest porosity is 98%, which is higher than other metal porous bodies such as metal non-woven fabrics and metal foams. Various shapes can be produced by cutting and punching. Sumitomo Electric Industries has produced a nickel (Ni) porous body Sermet. At present, Sermet has been used as the positive current collector of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles. AluminumSermet uses the same manufacturing process as Sermet. The characteristics of AluminumSermet are: the specific gravity is only about 1/3 of Sermet, and the resistivity is less than half of Sermet. In addition, AluminumSermet has high corrosion resistance and can be used in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and capacitors with higher charge and discharge voltages than nickel-hydrogen rechargeable batteries. Sermet has not been used in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and capacitors due to corrosion resistance. At present, the positive current collector of lithium ion rechargeable batteries mostly uses aluminum foil, and the negative current collector mostly uses copper foil. When AluminumSermet is used to replace aluminum foil, the positive active material per unit area increases, which can increase the battery capacity to 1.5 to 3 times the original (assumed to be a car battery). When manufacturing a battery with the same capacity as the original, the battery volume can be reduced to 1/3 to 2/3 of the original. According to the company's analysis, the positive and negative current collectors of the capacitor use aluminum foil. If both poles use AluminumSermet instead of aluminum foil, the capacity and size can reach the level of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.