MELBOURNE, Australia - Researchers at Australia's Monash University are close to solving one of the biggest challenges with eVTOL aircraft. The team's new lithium-sulfur battery tech is designed to deliver roughly twice the energy density of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, as well as speedy charging and discharging – enabling the sort of power delivery needed in the skies, Abhimanyu Ghoshal writes for New Atlas. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
27 November 2024 - The researchers say in their abstract that the slow reaction kinetics of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) constrain the applications in which they can be used.
They say that in their study, " it is reported that polyiodide species held within a complex polar network of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) accelerate the rate-limiting solid-liquid phase transitions both in the reduction and oxidation steps during battery cycling. Density functional theory calculations support a mechanism in which a combination of enhanced binding of polysulfides and additional energy states in the PVP-iodine-polysulfide complexes accelerates the reaction pathways mediated by inter-valance polyiodide reactions within the working voltage of Li–S batteries.
They continue, "These studies show that PVP-iodine (PVP-I) complexes enhance the rate capability of cells with practical sulfur loadings delivering a high areal capacity of ≈7 mAh cm−2 at the practical 0.5C rate. This advantage is demonstrated in one of the highest-rate pouches reported in Li–S literature, attaining energy densities of 215 and 156 Wh kg at 0.1C and 0.3C, respectively. The results demonstrate a subtle but powerful shift in the design of molecular binder systems, which have functional roles above and beyond the role of simply holding the active materials together.
The study is available here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.202403092.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
