9 ms·
New Cobalt-free Li-ion battery reduces costs with similar design and performance
- scythe 6y agoThe approach, detailed in the paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.202002718 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.2020027... attempts to mimic the performance of the leading lithium-ion battery cathodes, nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) by carefully synthesizing the cobalt-free hybrid nickel-manganese-aluminium (NMA) to mimic the crystal structure of NMC and NCA. In all cases, the largest fraction of the cathode is nickel, and cobalt/manganese/aluminium are essentially dopants. The authors note that manganese and aluminium produce opposing effects on the crystal structure of lithium-nickel-cobalt oxides, and go on to say: >Strikingly, a natural combination of Mn and Al in high-Ni layered oxides, i.e., LiNi 1−x−y Mn x Al y O 2 (NMA; suggested by us earlier [8] ), has not been reported to our knowledge. It is definitely surprising that the missing "third leg" between NMC and NCA has not received more serious attention, if that is true. Manganese and aluminium are both far more common than cobalt.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoThat about half of the world's production comes from the Congo(DRC) also makes it undesirable. Both because the Congo is unstable but also because it destabilizes the country. It's like a spiral of chaos for them, which is too bad because in theory it should be good for them to have an export that brings in money. The resource curse is unfortunately real.
- d33lio 6y agoI'm surprised a few HNW individuals with the help of the UN haven't just mediated and purchased the land that represents the DRC? It's clear these people have no clue how to control the land, feed their people or prevent war-lords from exploiting their own people for slave labor. Why not setup a situation where the people of the DRC are housed, fed and provided healthcare from the proceeds of their rare-earths while allowing the western beneficiaries to use their military to oust violent barbaric war-lords?
- ajzinsbwbs 6y agoUnfortunately there’s a long history of colonized people being mistreated, so it’s not an easy sell.
- perl4ever 6y agoI think whether it's "an easy sell" is more related to the question of whether it's profitable enough to anyone.
- d33lio 6y agoI acknowledge the horrific history of colonizing / private exploitation of the African continent. Europeans as a whole are 100% on the hook for this. This is also HN, so any mention of this region / situation is just going to result in the poster being downvoted, flagged and labeled every kind of horrible term other users can come up with. However, it's painfully evident that the UN is incapable of keeping the peace or trying to stabilize the region. In short, I'm trying to start a discussion here as to how nations with some sense of diplomacy and interest in these minerals could mediate in a meaningful way. There simply must be a better way. Not to be blunt, but we need a similarly over-regulated private offering equivalent to the "public" option of german healthcare. Curious if an impact fund of some kind could cooperate with NGO's and the UN? The formation of some kind of demilitarized zone? There has to be a way to improve this situation and prevent more of their own people being killed? Mostly in order to prevent China from coming in and clearing house like they have in other regions of Africa.
- recuter 6y agoTú no puedes comprar al viento Tú no puedes comprar al sol Tú no puedes comprar la lluvia Tú no puedes comprar el calor Tú no puedes comprar las nubes Tú no puedes comprar los colores Tú no puedes comprar mi alegría Tú no puedes comprar mis dolores
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 6y ago
- hwillis 6y agoI can't find a free version (much love to anyone who hosts) but Matt Lacey's energy density estimator is always good for situations like these: http://lacey.se/apps/cell-energy/ http://lacey.se/apps/cell-energy/
- epistasis 6y agoPeople seriously underestimate both the current economic efficacy of existing lithium ion batteries, as well as the continuous and seemingly inexorable improvement in costs. This sort of improvement often doesn't get much news, but they have been happening at a very consistent rate across manufacturers. I just hope that other technologies that are better for longer duration storage don't get overlooked for investment and development on industrial scales.
- coronadisaster 6y ago> People seriously underestimate both the current economic efficacy of existing lithium ion batteries, as well as the continuous and seemingly inexorable improvement in costs. Maybe because the cost of devices have skyrocketed and the battery dont last any longer... And in addition to that, you can no longer replace batteries.
- hwillis 6y agoHow are people STILL repeating this? Does anyone actually remember what phones used to be like? Because I can stream videos for hours and listen to music all day for multiple days before I run out, and I still remember my iphone 3 dying in 6 hours playing music that was already on the device. The iphone 11 has a 3110 mAh battery. The iphone 3 had 1220 mAh. I don't even remember the last time my phone died on me unexpectedly.
- coronadisaster 6y agoI used to charge once a day (10 years ago), and I still do because my phone can't last 2 full days on a full charge... but it does last about 1.5 days ... it is not an iphone 11 but it is still an $800 phone
- xbmcuser 6y agoThe number of hours you spend and what you do on your phone today compared to 10 years ago is also not the same.
- hammock 6y agoNot to mention some of the reportedly horrific conditions around cobalt mining (child labor etc)
- aussieguy1234 6y agoYep, hopefully this provides an alternative
- aaron695 6y agoWhat do you honestly think happens to these labourers, children and adults, and their communities if cobalt mining is stopped where they live because of lack of demand? Can you articulate how their lives get better?
- jacobwilliamroy 6y agoThe only thing worse than being exploited by foreign capitalists, is not being exploited by foreign capitalists
- bilbo0s 6y agoDepends. Are those foreign capitalists Rwandan warlords?
- jacobwilliamroy 6y agoNo. The rwandan warlords are also being exploited by foreign capitalists.
- calvinmorrison 6y agoI know it's stupid but Doubling the size of a AA battery seems cheaper than improving the efficiency?
- icedistilled 6y agoweight weight weight size size size. It's that important. Phone batteries, car batteries, drone batteries. Maybe commercial airline batteries one day.
- azernik 6y agoAnd if you don't care about weight and size, there are better and cheaper options than lithium anyway.
- sudosysgen 6y agoI've been designing and building an ebike, and were at the point where even if I threw out weight and size off the equation there's not really anything better than Li-ion for capacity at significant C-rates versus price.
- woodandsteel 6y agoOne of the many mistaken arguments of the fossil fuels forever crowd is that if there is anything wrong today with ff replacements, we can be absolutely certain technology will never in the future correct it.