Ground breaking research recently completed by the leading German battery technology institute IKTS has identified a previously unrecognised contamination and safety risk for lithium-ion batteries - the use of lower purity (grade) alumina in battery cell manufacture.
Test work could rock the lithium-ion battery indsutry!
The Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) in Dresden, Germany, recently completed test work that has the potential to rock the lithium-ion battery industry. Globally, lithium-ion battery production is rapidly expanding to meet the burgeoning demand from electric vehicles (EV's) and portable electronic devices. The Fraunhofer ITKS research was triggered, because a significant part of the industry, including those that supply EV batteries, are turning to cheaper substitutes such as low grade alumina and boehmite as the coating material on battery separator sheets and composite separators. However, this hot-off-the-press German research brings into question the safety of using lower quality separator coating materials.
A lithium-ion battery stores then releases power by lithium ions moving between the battery cathode and anode, representing the charge and visa-versa discharge cycles. Separating the cathode and anode within the battery is a liquid electrolyte and a thin polymer sheet through which lithium ions pass - a separator sheet. The composition of these polymer separator sheets has evolved over time in parallel with increases in battery energy density and faster charging requirements. Now separator sheets are mostly coated with thin layers of alumina powder to maintain separator integrity under the ever-increasing operating temperatures of modern high-energy lithium-ion batteries.
Wisely it would seem, the lithium-ion battery industry initially adopted high grade 4N alumina (99.99%) as the standard ...
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