Ever thought of a display that can prove
useful in extending the battery life of your smartphone? Well, we
certainly didn’t consider it. However, with the new glass material
developed by researchers, the devices will last for double the amount of
time they used to with normal lithium-ion batteries.
A team of ETH Zurich researchers led by
Dr. Semih Afyon and Reinhard Nesper invented a Vanadate-borate glass
that when embedded on the phone will act as an electrode in lithium-ion
batteries. An electrode is a conductor that transfers electric current
from one substance to another. The materials used in the formation of
the glass are the chemical components – vanadium oxide (V2O5) and
lithium-borate (LiBO2) precursors. These chemicals are later covered
with a coating of reduced graphite oxide (RGO). The coating is done to
increase the electrode properties of the material.
The purpose of using Vanadate as one of
the compounds is that vanadate is a transition material, and the powered
vanadium pentoxide and borate are mixed to produce the desired
material. The scientists heated the powder at 900 degree Celsius and
then cooled it promptly to form glass. These glass sheets are later
crashed into powder to increase the surface area along with creating
more pore space.
The research team drew light on its
study saying, “Borate is a glass former; that’s why the borate compounds
were used, and the resulting glass compound is a new kind of material,
neither V2O5 nor LiBO2 at the end.”
Both the Vanadate and borate compounds
are inexpensive and are efficient to produce energy density of
approximately 1000 watt-hour per kilogram when coated with graphite
oxide (RGO). The energy generated is enough to power a device 1.5 to 2
times more than the usual lithium-ion batteries.
Since the glass material is said to be
cheap, there’s quite a possibility that we can see future smartphones
embedded with the Vanadate-borate glass.
0 comments:
Post a Comment