New technology allows electric cars to travel a million km

A team of researchers has developed a new battery technology that could allow electric cars to travel a million kilometers.

Battery life, along with capacity, remains one of the biggest drawbacks of electric cars. Batteries deteriorate over time and need to be replaced, which can be costly and environmentally harmful.

The biggest problem is how secondary lithium batteries, the kind used in electric cars, store their charge. The process involves “converting electrical energy into chemical energy for storage, and then back into electrical energy for use.”

This is done using nickel cathode materials, which are capable of storing the large amount of lithium ions required for this process. But the nickel-based materials are made of small crystals, and can gradually degrade as they are charged and discharged.

Researchers believe this problem can be addressed by producing the "cathode material" in a single, large particle or crystal, which is less prone to decomposition.

In the study, the appropriate temperature was searched for in an attempt to manufacture these single-crystal materials with high quality.

The researchers found the temperature needed to produce the material with high quality and relative ease. Above the discovered temperature, a process called “densification” occurs, where the grains inside the material increase in size and cover the empty spaces.

Once this happens, the material becomes very solid and does not decompose, allowing it to last longer.

"We have presented a new synthetic strategy to enhance the durability of nickel-based cathode materials. We will continue our research to make secondary batteries for electric vehicles cheaper, faster and longer-lasting," said Kyu-Young Park, a professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology.

The study was published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces .