Cheaper, safer, lighter And greener zinc plastic batteries for electric and hybrid cars, that what the scientists of polyzion were busy trying to develop. Trying to avoid the expensive, known to catch fire and heavy used batteries nowadays.
Combining the fundamental material and process advances in ionic liquids, rechargeable zinc electrodes, ultra-fast pulse charge injection techniques and conducting polymers and constructing prototype battery units for industry standard testing. Because the zinc-plastic battery would incorporate environmentally sustainable electrolytes, it would be easier on the planet to produce. Unlike lithium-ions, it also wouldn’t be prone to catching fire on impact. Its charge-discharge efficiency would be greater than 90 percent and 1,000 cycles … or at least, that’s the plan.
In another direction researchers at Leyden Energy have been trying to reach a new kind of lithium-ion battery that holds much more high density used batteries, while still working well at high temperatures which enable the batteries to be useful for hybrid and electric cars. The company says the battery has an energy density of 225 watt-hours per kilogram. This falls at the high-end range of laptop batteries, and roughly 50 percent higher than lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The four-year-old startup expects to see its cells used by a tablet PC maker later this year, says Leyden CEO Aakar Patel. A cathode material such as lithium-iron phosphate is sometimes used for electric vehicle batteries because it can withstand high temperatures. The trade-off is that it has a relatively low energy density—around 140 watt-hours per kilogram. Leyden focuses on the electrolyte and current collector, because the two affect the performance of the cathode and anode and help to determine the longevity and stability of a battery, says Patel. The results are batteries that work just as well in temperatures up to 60 °C, he adds. Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in consumer electronics, but design changes are needed to make sure they work safely in electric or hybrid cars. Carmakers are typically forced to use lower-density batteries, and to use electronics and cooling systems to ensure the battery cells don’t run too hot.
