Scientists have announced a breakthrough in our understanding of how batteries work, saying it could lead to “big leaps” in battery performance in the future.
Researchers at the UK's Dundee and Warwick universities say that for the first time they have identified the key role oxygen plays in storing and releasing a battery’s energy.
It was previously thought that during the charging process much of the activity happens in metal elements inside the battery, such as nickel, cobalt or iron, and that oxygen in the battery was “passive”.
However, the team said advanced computer modelling and laboratory experiments have shown that oxygen plays a much more active role in the charging and discharging process.
They said the findings could lead to the development of batteries for electronics and vehicles that charge faster, last longer and are safer to use.
"Global populations have become increasingly reliant on renewable energy technologies and advanced energy storage systems from everything from the mobile phones in our pockets to the cars we drive," said Dr Hrishit Banerjee, a theoretical physicist at Dundee’s faculty of science, engineering and business.
"This has made understanding the technology underpinning electronic processes inside battery materials increasingly important. This research is crucial and gives us a new understanding of how batteries function at a fundamental level."
The study compared two of the main lithium-ion battery cathodes used today – phosphates and layered oxides.
Together these forms of batteries are used for a host of applications, including electric vehicles and portable electronics such as mobile phones and laptops.
The study found that while phosphates showed little oxygen participation, the layered oxides showed “significant” electron extraction from oxygen.
“By improving our knowledge of what is occurring at a tiny, atomic level within batteries, we can make big leaps in improving their performance in the real world," Dr Banerjee said.
“Current technologies are limited by the understanding of the underlying physics of how and why batteries fail over time. This general framework will help design batteries with much longer lifetimes.”
The full findings have been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
