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Researchers have applied the cold sintering technique to solve challenges related to high temperatures and develop solid-state electrolytes with high conductivity, improving the performance of electric vehicle batteries
For years, lithium-ion batteries have powered everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. However, their reliance on liquid electrolytes has always raised concerns about safety.
The instability of liquids can lead to fire risks, which has led to the search for safer alternatives.
Now, researchers from Penn State are betting on a solution: solid-state electrolytes (SSEs).
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These new materials could revolutionize the market Electronic consumer and the electric vehicle industry, bringing greater safety and reliability.
Solid State Batteries: How Do They Work?
Solid-state batteries differ from traditional lithium-ion batteries in that they use solid electrolytes instead of liquids.
According to Hongtao Sun, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State, the change is simple but essential.
"Rechargeable batteries contain two internal electrodes: an anode on one side and a cathode on the other.”, explained Sun. “Electrolytes serve as a bridge between these two electrodes, providing fast transport for conductivity. Lithium-ion batteries use liquid electrolytes, while solid-state batteries use SSEs."
These new electrolytes bring important advantages. Stability and safety are superior to traditional solutions.
However, there are still barriers that prevent large-scale commercial application. The main challenge is to ensure that solid electrolytes are produced efficiently and with high conductivity.
Overcoming barriers with cold sintering
A great difficulty in manufacturing the SSEs is at the high temperatures required to process ceramic materials. This requirement impairs efficiency and can make mass production unfeasible.
To get around this problem, the Penn State team turned to an innovative technique: cold sintering.
The method combines pressure and a small amount of liquid solvent to form ceramic-polymer composites at much lower temperatures than traditional ones.
"The process is called 'cold' because it operates at much lower temperatures than traditional sintering.”, explained Sun. “We use pressure and a small amount of liquid solvent to complete the process, making it much more energy efficient."
This approach enables the creation of highly conductive composites, such as LATP-PILG, improving battery efficiency without compromising the material.
LATP-PILG: an innovation in ion transport
Traditional solid electrolytes, composed of polycrystalline grains, have difficulty transporting ions. This limitation reduces battery performance.
Sun's team overcame this barrier by combining LATP ceramics with a polyionic liquid gel (PILG). This new composite improves ion conduction by utilizing engineered boundaries and avoiding the common flaws in natural interfaces.
"One of the manufacturing challenges of LATP-based composite SSEs is that the sintering temperature of the ceramic is very high, to the point of burning off any additives, such as the polymer compound, before the ceramic could be densified.a,” Sun explained. “So we had to implement cold sintering, to keep the temperatures much lower.”
With this advancement, it was possible to create a solid electrolyte that works efficiently at room temperature, offering superior ionic conductivity.
Greater stability and more energy
In addition to improving ion conduction, the newly developed SSE features a wide voltage window, which is essential for increasing battery performance.
“In addition to improved conductivity, our polymer-on-ceramic composite SSE demonstrated a very wide voltage window, between 0 and 5,5 volts,” Sun noted.The large voltage window allows the use of high voltage cathodes, allowing the battery to generate more power overall."
This gain in efficiency and energy makes solid-state batteries a strong candidate to replace current technologies in smartphones, electric vehicles and other applications.
Applications beyond batteries
The impact of cold sintering could extend far beyond the battery industry. Sun believes the method could be used in other fields, such as semiconductor production, where high-quality ceramic composite materials are highly valued.
However, the team remains focused on one main objective: making the process sustainable and applicable on a large scale.
“Our next goal is to develop a sustainable manufacturing system that supports large-scale production and recyclability, as this will be key to industrial applications of this technology,” Sun said. “This is the grand vision we hope to achieve in the coming years.”
The research was published in the journal Materials Today Energy.
