Batteries

Lithium Titanate
Lithium Titanate offers a solution to some of these problems. A lithium–titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals on the surface of its anode instead of carbon; this gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for typical carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. This makes fast recharging possible and provides high currents when needed. The disadvantage is that lithium-titanate batteries have a lower voltage and storage capacity than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies, with generally only 70-80 watt-hours per kilogram of energy, compared to 100-250 in lithium. However, improved Lithium titanate batteries tend to offer batteries that can meet the levels of low level lithium ion batteries (around 110 watt-hours per kilogram) making them potentially a much more feasible option in terms of weight and size compare to lithium ion. Some batteries claim to capable of reaching 90% of their maximum charge in roughly 10 minutes, making them potentially capable of recharged relatively quickly when compared to lithium ion. As well, Lithium titanate proves to be one of the most expensive types of batteries, although is said to have one of the longest life cycles, at around 18,000 cycles, potentially making its cost in terms of replacement and service reasonable compared lithium ion and other forms of batteries.

Lithium–sulfur battery
In comparison, the lithium–sulfur battery (Li–S battery) is a rechargeable galvanic cell with a very high energy density in comparison to most batteries and specifically lithium ion. Due to the low atomic weight of lithium and moderate weight of sulfur, Li–S batteries are considered to be relatively light; about the density of water, giving them a relatively high energy density. Lithium–sulfur battery were used on the longest and highest-altitude solar-powered airplane flight on record, August, 2008, with the Swiss “Solar Impulse” vehicle. Lithium–sulfur batteries currently possess around 400 watt/hours per kilogram, which is roughly double the ability of medium to high grade lithium ion batteries and four times that of lower grade lithium ion batteries. Theoretically, a Lithium–sulfur battery could get up to 500-600 watt/hours per kilogram, possessing around 2.5-3 times the energy of a typical lithium ion battery, and therefore theoretically the range of an electric car. This could vastly increase the range of current electric vehicles, reducing much of the fear associated with “range anxiety” (the fear that one will run out of energy before they can reach their destination). As well, the generally tend to be cheaper than lithium ion, as sulfur is considered to be much cheaper than lithium. One of the primary drawbacks of most Lithium–sulfur batteries, however, is the intermediary reactions with the electrolytes. While Sulfur and Lithium Sulfur are relatively insoluble in most electrolytes, many of the intermediary polysulfides are not. The dissolving of the polysulfides into electrolytes can cause irreversible loss of active sulfur material. Much of the current research directed towards these batteries is designed to reduce this degradation and hopefully increase the cycle life and use of Lithium sulfur batteries.

Potassium Ion
Potassium ion batteries tend to hold a cheaper alternative than lithium ion. The battery essentially uses “Prussian blue”, a dark blue pigment with the formula Fe7(CN)1 , as the cathode material for its stability, and the prototype proved to successfully be used for millions of cycles. The potassium battery designed had many valuable advantages in comparison with similar lithium ion batteries: the cell design is simple, and both the material used and the procedure needed for the cell fabrication are cheaper. The chemical diffusion coefficient of Potassium in the cell is higher than that of Lithium, which is due to a smaller Stokes radius of Potassium in electrolyte solution (solvated ions). Since the electrochemical potential of Potassium is virtually identical to that of Lithium, the cell and battery potential is similar to that of lithium-ion. Potassium batteries can accept a wide range of cathode materials with excellent rechargeability, cheaper materials, and the like; noticeable advantage of potassium battery is the availability of potassium graphite, which is often used as an anode material in current lithium-ion battery. Its stable structure guarantees a reversible intercalation/de-intercalation of potassium ions during the charging/discharging process, suggesting the potential for a very long battery life. Potassium ion batteries, while somewhat undeveloped, present the advantage of cheaper manufacture and potentially increased durability when compared to lithium ion, and would only take minimal resources to mass produce and develop, possibly reconfiguring parts of old lithium ion production plants.

Lithium Iron Phosphate
The lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, also called an LFP battery, is a type of rechargeable battery, specifically a lithium-ion battery, which uses LiFePO4 as a cathode material. The Battery offers a safer and somewhat greater long term storage capacity compared to lithium, being extremely difficult to catch on fire or explode, and is roughly equal to lithium ion in terms of storage capacity. Due to the significantly stronger bonds between the oxygen atoms in the phosphate (compared to the cobalt), oxygen is not readily released, and as a result, lithium iron phosphate cells are virtually incombustible in the event of mishandling during charge or discharge, and can handle high temperatures without decomposing when compared to various other lithium type batteries. This makes them much safer and less likely to explode or burn under high pressure or temperature circumstances. The battery does have some minor drawbacks however. While comparable to lithium ion, it possess roughly 14% less energy density; still as this is a relatively minor setback, it is expected that through the maximization of the weight to energy levels that the battery could be virtually equal to lithium ion in terms of energy density. As well, the battery has a relatively low discharge rate, meaning less power can be extracted within a certain amount of time; this can be compensated for, however, as a bigger battery can be used to increase the discharge. This comes with the advantage of having a lower long term discharge rate, meaning that the life of the battery and the discharge rate of the stored energy can be much lower, meaning that in long term applications it can serve as a more electrically efficient battery than lithium ion. It also a higher cycle life rate, at roughly 2000 cycles, compared to lithium at around 400-1200 depending on the battery used.

Lithium air batteries
Lithium air batteries offer a unique alternative to power consumption and range when compared to ordinary batteries. Essentially, lithium air batteries try to draw power from the air and surrounding environment, to supplement their power and provide a more efficient method of transportation. They could theoretically produce more output energy than input energy as well, which could increase the efficiency drastically and generate much longer ranges on a single charge. However, there are many challenges facing the design of Lithium air batteries, which currently limits their use to the laboratory. One of the largest challenges in producing a practical lithium air battery is in keeping the battery protected from the environment; Atmospheric oxygen must be present at the cathode in order to generate the perceived power, but the cathode can be degraded by humidity. Water vapor can cause rapid degradation of the power cell, reducing its efficiency and practical nature in the environment. If they were somehow shielded from water vapor and potentially other contaminants, current lithium air batteries could work relatively effectively with a large range on a single charge. There are currently four main types of lithium air batteries, being Aprotic, Aqueous, Mixed Aprotic/Aqueous, and solid state forms. Each one presents their own sets of challenges and advantages, and it remains to be seen which one will be the best. Aprotic batteries tend to be easily recharged and powered, although due to their electrolyte function tend to be clogged relatively easily. The aqueous version tends to have a relatively higher discharge rate and doesn’t result in as much clogging as the Aprotic version, but lithium reacts violently with water and as such creates a large number of problems when in practice. The Mixed Aprotic/Aqueous tends to solve both of these problems, all the results remain to be seen. The solid state batteries are somewhat safer and virtually eliminates the problems of both the liquid and Aprotic batteries, but is much weaker due to the low conductivity of the ceramics used, and cannot reach the same power levels as the other batteries. Hopefully, a solution will be developed for lithium air batteries in the near future.

Aluminum Air batteries
Another notable and potential unique alternative to modern batteries are Aluminum air batteries. They have one of the highest energy densities of all batteries, although weren’t used frequently to previous problems associated with shelf life, start-up time, and byproduct removal, which limited them mostly to specialist or military applications. Aluminum air batteries are primary batteries, that is non-rechargeable batteries, that essentially react aluminum with the air in order to generate a large amount of electricity; once the aluminum anode is consumed by its reaction with the atmospheric oxygen through a cathode immersed in a water-based electrolyte to form hydrated aluminum oxide, the battery will no longer produce electricity. It may be possible to mechanically recharge the battery with new aluminum anodes made from recycling the hydrated aluminum oxide, potentially making the recharge or use significantly easier. Obviously, such recycling will be essential if aluminum–air batteries are to be widely adopted in electric cars or other functions. Original aluminum-air batteries had a limited shelf life because the aluminum reacted with the electrolyte within its container and produced hydrogen when the battery was not in use, thus wasting it’s electrolyte source – although this is no longer the case with modern designs; by storing the electrolyte in a tank outside the battery and transferring it to the battery when it is required for use, the degradation over time does not occur. While non-rechargeable batteries do not seem like a likely candidate for long term energy replacement in electric cars, their raw power potentially makes them viable. Aluminum air batteries currently possess around 10-15 times the energy density as lead-acid batteries. A typical lead acid battery car has around a 50 mile range, giving the vehicle, potentially, a 500-750 mile range based on current estimates. However, the potential for aluminum air batteries is around 6000-8000 watthours per kilogram, potentially making it 4.6 to 6.15 times more powerful than they are now, giving it a potential range of 2300-4600 miles with a single battery. Still, due to the frequent replacements that would be needed of the battery, it is largely better reserved for specialist applications or in use for the military, whom require extended range or use of batteries without frequent recharging, and possess sufficient recycling programs.

Super Capacitors
The most reasonable form of power storage device comes from the potential creation of super capacitors made from nano-technology which could serve as pseudo-batteries and would be capable of providing long term power storage, quick recharge rates, an incredibly long cycle life, be relatively cheap to produce per cycle, and be capable of a massively higher energy density than lithium ion and potentially all known batteries. Due to the inherent strength of its components, it could also have a relatively high strength, potentially several times stronger than steel and have relatively high temperatures tolerances. Capacitors generally have a much lower power threshold when compared to batteries, and also a relatively higher discharge rate. Most commercially available supercapacitors are around 30-50 times weaker than lithium ion in terms of energy density, and many capacitors can be thousands of times weaker. Additionally, capacitors tend to have a much higher discharge rate than batteries, and have difficulty storing a charge for an extended period of time. While lithium ion has a discharge rate of roughly 8% it’s maximum energy storage per month, capacitors can generally be drained of nearly all their energy by that time (although capacitors can store low levels of energy for relatively long periods of time, meaning that a capacitor may never truly be completely discharged). By increasing the sheer power of the nano-capacitors, many of these problems could theoretically be solved. Nano capacitors could theoretically be thousands of times better than current super capacitors, meaning that stored at relatively low charges (1% of their maximum) nano capacitors could present roughly equal if not greater long term energy capacity when compared to lithium ion. Potentially, nano capacitors could store tens of times more energy than lithium ion, and potentially be lighter weight and cheaper as well. Due to the increased capacities of nano-capacitors, they may be able to store up to 5-10% of their maximum charge as efficiently as lithium ion, and with a similar if not lower discharge rate, meaning that they could not only present much better capabilities for capacitors, but also potentially store even greater levels of energy than if equivalent to the energy retention of typical capacitors, potentially allowing them to store hundreds of times more energy than lithium ion. As a capacitor, they could be charged as fast as fast allowed, allowing for relatively quick recharge times. You may buy a car fully charged off the lot, which could potentially be 10’s of thousands of miles worth of energy, given its raw power, potentially giving a new definition to the term “mileage”. They would also degrade in millions of cycles, instead of thousands, and could potentially last thousands of years, and given their large levels of capacitance (and therefore infrequent recharge rate) potentially more.

Luckily, Bucky Paper and Graphene sheets, integral components to nano-capacitors, have already been made in relatively large amounts; several inches, instead of the usual nano-meters. The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"; and buckypaper was produced in sufficient quantities as well. Graphene was shown to have one of the highest breaking strengths and to be one of the strongest materials ever tested. Measurements have shown that graphene has a breaking strength 200 times greater than steel, with a tensile strength of around 130 GPa, or 19,000,000, or 19 million PSI. Bucky paper, on the other hand, promises to be roughly 250 times stronger than steel and harder than diamond; both possess the capability to be flexible, and grapheme has shown promise in being transparent and possible use as a display screen, for possible use with computers. Both can provide significant capacitance abilities, and could possibly be utilized together to create an extremely powerful ultra-capacitor. They also both present extremely powerful thermal capabilities, being able to absorb, disperse, or even potentially transport heat away from a source very quickly. Inches, if not bricks have been made, and it is likely only 10-20 years, at most, before both become a viable reality, especially in the world of electronics or in use as batteries. They both show promise in electronic miniaturization for many reason, which could absorb energy and transmit electricity very effectively, as well as be micro designed.

Hopefully, nano-capacitors will be developed in sufficient quantities in a short enough time to be made reasonable for most electronics and electric cars; at least at levels to match or only mildly exceed lithium ion, providing their other advantages, such as light weight, high strength, quick recharge time, potentially low resource cost, and long life, which could easily out do lithium ion and many other batteries.

In short, electric cars are the way to go in the future, as they provide the only potential long term, fuel efficient, low fuel, or fuel absent clean, sustainable long term energy methods for the future, and also would logistically simplify the production of energy into a single form, with easy distribution for all.