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Nanostructures will help in production of affordable EV batteries

Electric car batteriesChinese companies are well known for developing low-cost devices, which can be used for extraordinary works and a new company based in Beijing is carrying forward the tradition by developing low cost electrode materials and batteries that could be used in electric vehicles. The company named Wuhe is hopeful that the new device will bring down the cost of electric vehicles, which are not getting popular due to high price.

In this battery nanostructures are used and nanomaterials have the potential to deliver power in large bursts, which can be used to accelerate the electric vehicle without affecting the energy storage capacity of the vehicle. The company is developing the materials which could reduce the costs of the production of battery cells by a good margin. Electric cars come with expensive battery packs and their high cost often forces the makers of these cars to use small battery packs. The use of small battery packs reduces the cost of the vehicle, but the speed of the car gets affected. In order to improve the performance of the battery at a low price, Yu-Guo, a professor of chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and his team at Wuhe have come up with an idea to improve the properties of lithium-iron phosphate, which is widely used as electrode material in lithium-iron battery across the globe.

Lithium-iron phosphate has very low conductivity and that’s why it is not of any use but we can increase its conductivity by mixing the ions into fine nanoscale powders. When the particles get small after milling lithium ions, which are basically electrons will start moving in and out of them at a rapid pace. But this whole process is costly, because it is not easy to work with this powder. Guo has come up with a solution. The Chinese scientist is using iron-phosphate nanoparticles, which can be packed closely without much difficulty and they have high conductivity.

Guo is yet to reveal details but claims that the materials are cost effective because they cost around 10 to 20 percent more than bulk lithium-iron phosphate. Now you must be thinking, why to invest more money. Here is the answer. These materials pack twice as much power as the bulk material, which means they can double the energy storage capacity. To conclude, we must say, good job Mr. Guo.

Via: Technology Review

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