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OKIsItJustMe

(20,595 posts)
Mon Jul 15, 2024, 02:30 PM Jul 2024

POSTEC Could High-Temperature Single Crystals Enable Electric Vehicles Capable of Traveling Up to One million Km?

(Misleading headline. This will not lead to EV’s which can drive one million kilometers on a single charge, however, potentially this could lead to longer lasting batteries.)

https://www.postech.ac.kr/eng/could-high-temperature-single-crystals-enable-electric-vehicles-capable-of-traveling-up-to-one-million-kilometers/

Could High-Temperature Single Crystals Enable Electric Vehicles Capable of Traveling Up to One million Kilometers?

2024-07-10 181

[POSTECH and the POSCO N.EX.T Hub unveil a microstructure design guide to enhance the durability of lithium secondary batteries]

A research team led by Professor Kyu-Young Park from the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Kyoung Eun Lee, a PhD candidate, and alumna Yura Kim from the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), in collaboration with the POSCO Holdings N.EX.T Hub, has recently demonstrated a single-crystal synthesis technology that significantly extends the lifespan of cathode materials for electric vehicles. This research was published in the online edition of “ACS Materials & Interfaces,” an international journal in the materials science field.

Lithium (Li) secondary batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles, store energy by converting electrical energy to chemical energy and generating electricity to release chemical energy to electrical energy through the movement of Li- ions between a cathode and an anode. These secondary batteries mainly use nickel (Ni) cathode materials due to their high lithium-ion storage capacity. Traditional nickel-based materials have a polycrystalline morphology composed of many tiny crystals which can undergo structural degradation during charging and discharging, significantly reducing their lifespan.

One approach to addressing this issue is to produce the cathode material in a “single-crystal*1” form. Creating nickel-based cathode materials as single large particles, or “single crystals,” can enhance their structural and chemical stability and durability. It is known that single-crystal materials are synthesized at high temperatures and become rigid. However, the exact process of hardening during synthesis and the specific conditions under which this occurs remain unclear.

To improve the durability of nickel cathode materials for electric vehicles, the researchers focused on identifying a specific temperature, referred to as the “critical temperature,” at which high-quality single-crystal materials are synthesized. They investigated various synthesis temperatures to determine the optimal conditions for forming single crystals in synthesis of a nickel-based cathode material (N884*2). The team systematically observed the impact of temperature on the material’s capacity and long-term performance.



DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.4c00514


1. Single-crystal
A structure where all atoms are arranged in a regular manner to form one complete crystal. This structure is particularly suitable for high-performance energy storage devices such as electric vehicle batteries due to its excellent strength, electrical properties, and durability

2. N884
A nickel-based cathode material (LiNi0.88Mn0.08Co0.04O2)

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