Yet, they are also responsible for some of the most significant environmental problems facing us today. Chemical devices that transform electrical energy into chemical stored energy are known as batteries. Primary (non-rechargeable) and secondary (rechargeable) batteries are the two basic types of batteries (rechargeable). Primary batteries can only be used once and are not rechargeable. Rechargeable secondary batteries are used several times.
What happens when battery technology reaches its limits? Will we ever run out of power?
Batteries are everywhere today. They power our smartphones, laptops, cars, and even our homes. But they also pose a severe threat to the environment. The demand for energy storage has increased over the last decade, and now companies are racing to develop new technologies to meet the challenge.
Batteries are essential to modern life. But their production involves toxic chemicals and heavy metals, which pollute the air and water. New research suggests that these problems might soon become insurmountable. So what will happen when we reach the limit of how much energy we can harness from a single battery?
Battery Basics
A cell is the basic unit of an electric car's battery. It's just two electrodes separated by some liquid electrolyte. When you connect one electrode to your terminals and another to the ground, it creates a circuit between them. In this case, I'm using lithium-ion cells (which is a common type of rechargeable battery), but any other kind would work as well.
When electricity flows through a wire or a battery, electrons change direction. These tiny particles have a negative charge on one end and a positive charge on the other. If you move an electron from one side to the other, it loses its positive control and gains a negative amount.
Electrons flow naturally in opposite directions through wires. To prevent electrons from flowing backward, wires usually contain an insulator like rubber. That keeps the current moving forward, so you don't get shocked if you touch them.
The chemical reaction that causes electricity to flow is reversed in a battery. Instead of losing a charge, the battery gains electrons. This means there are more electrons than protons floating around inside the battery. If you add up all the electrons that make up the battery, you'll find that they're not equal to the number of protons. There must be a difference because otherwise, the battery wouldn't store any charge at all.
This imbalance is called voltage. Batteries are measured in volts (V), where 1 volt is needed to push a millionth of a joule of energy across a gap of one centimeter. A typical 12-volt car battery has about 7 volts, while a 9-volt battery has only 3.3 volts.
Evolution of the Batteries
As battery technology evolves, new materials are being developed to improve their performance. In particular, lithium-ion batteries are becoming increasingly popular because of their high energy density and long life cycle. However, there is a problem with using lithium ions in batteries: they form dendrites on the surface of the anode when charging and discharging. These dendrite structures increase the battery's internal resistance and thus reduce its efficiency.
One way to avoid this problem is to use different electrolytes, such as replacing the traditional liquid organic electrolyte with solid polymer electrolytes. This approach has been shown to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries significantly. However, these solid polymer electrolytes have not yet reached full commercialization due to difficulties in manufacturing processes. Therefore, it is desirable to develop alternative approaches to stabilize lithium ions while maintaining the advantages of solid polymer electrolytes.
In the future, you will see more research is done on Lithium-Sulfur Batteries (LSBs), which promise higher energy densities than current Li-Ion batteries. LSBs are based on the direct conversion of chemical energy from sulfur to electricity via redox reactions without any intermediate steps. Lithium-air batteries can outperform traditional lithium-ion batteries in terms of cost, safety, and recharge ability.
Some researchers believe that we might eventually move away from lithium altogether to discover better alternatives. For instance, sodium-based batteries could become very promising because sodium metal has a lower standard potential than lithium. Sodium-carbon batteries are already commercially available but still have room for improvement.
Another exciting direction is the development of all-solid-state batteries where no liquid or gaseous phase exists inside the cell. All-solid-state batteries would eliminate many safety risks associated with flammable liquids.
All-solid-state batteries are beautiful because metals such as silicon, tin, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, etc., are abundant and inexpensive. But, most of them suffer from low capacity, poor rate capability, and short life cycles. Recently, graphene has emerged as a good candidate material to replace the electrodes in all-solid-state cells. Graphene is flexible and chemically stable, making it perfect for all-solid-cells. It was first discovered in 2004 by Novoselov et al.
What you should expect in future
You should expect that the batteries of the future will be able to store much more significant amounts of energy per volume and weight than today's lithium-ion batteries. Researchers are currently working to achieve this goal by developing novel electrode materials, electrolytes, and other components.
This will help us eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, responsible for environmental pollution and global warming. In summary, the future of batteries looks bright. Also, you should expect to see new battery technologies emerge soon.
Lithium-sulfur batteries may exceed Li-Ion batteries' performance, environmental effect, cost, and charging speed. This means there will be a lot of competition between the two within a few years. So far, only Tesla has announced plans to produce an electric car using Lithium-Sulphur batteries. If they succeed, then the rest of the industry will follow suit. Also, there is a chance that some companies will start producing their versions of these batteries. This way, they can compete with Tesla directly.
Future of Battery Technology will ensure the batteries have:
- More Energy Density
- Better Performance/Efficiency
- Less Costly
- Safety & Environment Friendly
In conclusion, you should expect that the future of battery technology will not just be about improving the performance of existing batteries but also about creating entirely new types of batteries with different features. As a result, we will finally have cars capable of running at high speeds, traveling long distances, and even driving autonomously.
