Graphene Battery
Prospects
The success of the experimental stage of the new graphene battery will undoubtedly become a new development point in the battery industry. Battery technology is the biggest threshold for the vigorous promotion and development of electric vehicles, and the battery industry is at a stage where both lead-acid batteries and traditional lithium batteries are experiencing bottlenecks. After the successful development of graphene energy storage equipment, if mass production is possible, it will The battery industry and even the electric vehicle industry have brought new changes.
Because of its unique characteristics, graphene is called a "magic material", and scientists even predict that it will "completely change the 21st century." Professor Colin Bailey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: "Graphene has the potential to revolutionize a huge variety of applications, from smartphones and ultra-high-speed broadband to drug delivery and computer chips."
Recently, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles developed a graphene-based miniature supercapacitor. The capacitor is not only small in size, but also charges 1,000 times faster than ordinary batteries. It can charge mobile phones and even cars in a few seconds. At the same time, it can be used to manufacture smaller devices.
The technological breakthrough of micro-graphene supercapacitors can be said to have brought revolutionary development to batteries. The main method of manufacturing miniature capacitors is lithography technology, which requires a lot of manpower and cost, which hinders the commercial application of the product. And only a common DVD burner, even at home, can make more than 100 miniature graphene supercapacitors on a disc in 30 minutes using cheap materials.
It is precisely seeing the application prospects of graphene that many countries have established graphene-related technology research and development centers to try to commercialize graphene, and then obtain potential application patents in industry, technology, and electronics-related fields. The European Commission regards graphene as the "Future Emerging Flagship Technology Project" and has set up a special research and development plan to allocate 1 billion euros in the next 10 years. The British government has also invested in the establishment of the National Graphene Institute (NGI) in an effort to make this material available from the laboratory to the production line and market in the next few decades.
China also has unique advantages in graphene research. From a production perspective, graphite, which is a raw material for graphene production, has abundant energy storage and low price in my country. In addition, mass production and large-scale production are the most important factors hindering the large-scale commercial use of graphene. The first 15-inch single-layer graphene in China was successfully manufactured by chemical vapor deposition, and the graphene transparent electrode was successfully applied to a resistive touch screen to prepare a 7-inch graphene touch screen.
Researchers from the Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are demonstrating the super light transmittance and flexibility of single-layer graphene products.
Because graphene has an unimaginable conductivity, the concept of graphene batteries has become a life-saving straw to break through the bottleneck of battery technology. In particular, any technological breakthrough in the domestic electric vehicle industry is linked to graphene batteries.
With the continuous deepening of research, the successive overcoming of technical problems, and the continuous expansion of the application range, I believe that the age of graphene devices is not far away, and we can also look forward to what kind of surprises this "21st century magical material" will bring.
"Graphene batteries may be reformed: charging for 10 minutes to run 1,000 kilometers" Report: Spain Graphenano (a company that produces graphene on an industrial scale) and the University of Cordoba in Spain have jointly developed the first graphene polymer battery. The power storage is three times that of the best products on the market. An electric car powered by this battery can travel up to 1,000 kilometers, and its charging time is less than 8 minutes. Although this battery has various excellent properties, its cost is not high. The relevant person in charge of Graphenano said that the cost of this battery will be 77% lower than that of lithium batteries, which is completely within the consumer's range. In addition, in fields such as automotive fuel cells, graphene is also expected to bring revolutionary progress.
principle
An experiment in which graphene batteries use environmental heat to recharge themselves.
The experiment made a circuit which contained LEDs and was connected to ribbon graphene with wires. They just put graphene in a copper chloride solution and observed it. The LED light is on. In fact, they need 6 graphene circuits to form a series connection, so that the required 2V can be generated to make the LED light bright, and this picture can be obtained.
Xu Zihan and colleagues said that what happened here is that copper ions have a double positive charge and pass through the solution at a speed of about 300 meters per second because of the thermal energy of the solution at room temperature. When the ion violently crashes into the graphene ribbon, the collision will generate enough energy to cause the electrons that are not in situ to leave the graphene. There are two options for electrons: they can leave the graphene ribbon and combine with copper ions, or they can pass through graphene and enter the circuit.
It turns out that the flowing electrons are faster in graphene, exceeding its speed through the solution, so the electrons will naturally choose their path through the circuit. It is this point that lights up the LED lamp. "The electrons released tend to pass through the graphene surface rather than into the electrolyte. This is how the device generates voltage," Xu Zihan said.
Therefore, the energy generated by this device comes from the heat of the surrounding environment. They can increase the current by heating the solution, or use ultrasound to accelerate the copper ions. Relying only on the surrounding heat, they can keep their graphene batteries running for 20 days. However, there is an important question mark. Another hypothesis is that some chemical reaction produces electric current, just like a normal battery.
However, Xu Zihan and colleagues said that they ruled out this because they conducted several control experiments. However, these are introduced in some supplementary materials, and they do not seem to be placed on the arXiv website. They need to make public before anyone else makes a serious statement. From the surface value, this seems to be a very important result. Others also generate overcurrent in graphene, but just let water flow through it, so this is not really surprising. Moving ions can also produce this effect. This heralds a clean, green battery that only relies on environmental heat to drive. Xu Zihan and colleagues said: "This represents a huge breakthrough, the research is self-driving technology."
Capacity impact
From a microscopic point of view, the charging and discharging process of a battery is actually a process in which cations are "embedded" and "detached" in the electrode. Therefore, if there are more holes in the electrode material, the faster this process will proceed. From a macro perspective, it shows that the faster the battery charge and discharge.
The microstructure of graphene is a network structure composed of carbon atoms. Because of its extreme thinness (the thickness of only one layer of atoms), the movement of cations is very limited. At the same time, because of its network structure, electrode materials made of graphene also have sufficient holes.
From this perspective, graphene is undoubtedly a very ideal electrode material.
Research by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State, USA, shows that using graphene as the anode material of the battery will charge and discharge more than 10 times faster than lithium-ion batteries.
application
With the gradual breakthrough of mass production and large-size problems, the pace of industrial application of graphene is accelerating. Based on existing research results, the first commercial applications may be mobile devices, aerospace, and new energy. Battery field.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, the bendable screen has attracted much attention and has become the development trend of mobile device displays in the future. The future market of flexible display is broad, and the prospect of graphene as a basic material is also promising. Statistics show that the global demand for mobile phone touch screens in 2013 was about 965 million pieces. By 2015, the demand for large-size touch screens in tablet computers will also reach 230 million, providing a broad market for graphene applications. Researchers from South Korea’s Samsung have also produced transparent and flexible displays composed of multilayer graphene and other materials, and it is believed that large-scale commercialization is just around the corner.
On the other hand, new energy batteries are also an important area of graphene's earliest commercial use. Previously, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has successfully developed flexible photovoltaic panels with graphene nano-layers on the surface, which can greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing transparent and deformable solar cells. Such batteries may be used in night vision goggles, cameras and other small Application in digital equipment. In addition, the successful research and development of graphene super batteries has also solved the problems of insufficient capacity and long charging time of new energy vehicle batteries, greatly accelerating the development of the new energy battery industry. This series of research results paved the way for the application of graphene in the new energy battery industry.
Due to the characteristics of high conductivity, high strength, ultra-light and thin, the application advantages of graphene in the aerospace and military industry are also extremely prominent. Not long ago, NASA in the United States developed a graphene sensor used in the aerospace field, which can detect trace elements in the atmosphere at high altitudes and structural defects on spacecraft. Graphene will also play a more important role in potential applications such as ultralight aircraft materials.
The success of the experimental stage of the new graphene battery will undoubtedly become a new development point in the battery industry. Battery technology is the biggest threshold for the vigorous promotion and development of electric vehicles, and the battery industry is at a stage where both lead-acid batteries and traditional lithium batteries are experiencing bottlenecks. After the successful development of graphene energy storage equipment, if mass production is possible, it will The battery industry and even the electric vehicle industry have brought new changes.
Because of its unique characteristics, graphene is called a "magic material", and scientists even predict that it will "completely change the 21st century." Professor Colin Bailey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: "Graphene has the potential to revolutionize a huge variety of applications, from smartphones and ultra-high-speed broadband to drug delivery and computer chips."
Recently, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles developed a graphene-based miniature supercapacitor. The capacitor is not only small in size, but also charges 1,000 times faster than ordinary batteries. It can charge mobile phones and even cars in a few seconds. At the same time, it can be used to manufacture smaller devices.
The technological breakthrough of micro-graphene supercapacitors can be said to have brought revolutionary development to batteries. The main method of manufacturing miniature capacitors is lithography technology, which requires a lot of manpower and cost, which hinders the commercial application of the product. And only a common DVD burner, even at home, can make more than 100 miniature graphene supercapacitors on a disc in 30 minutes using cheap materials.
It is precisely seeing the application prospects of graphene that many countries have established graphene-related technology research and development centers to try to commercialize graphene, and then obtain potential application patents in industry, technology, and electronics-related fields. The European Commission regards graphene as the "Future Emerging Flagship Technology Project" and has set up a special research and development plan to allocate 1 billion euros in the next 10 years. The British government has also invested in the establishment of the National Graphene Institute (NGI) in an effort to make this material available from the laboratory to the production line and market in the next few decades.
China also has unique advantages in graphene research. From a production perspective, graphite, which is a raw material for graphene production, has abundant energy storage and low price in my country. In addition, mass production and large-scale production are the most important factors hindering the large-scale commercial use of graphene. The first 15-inch single-layer graphene in China was successfully manufactured by chemical vapor deposition, and the graphene transparent electrode was successfully applied to a resistive touch screen to prepare a 7-inch graphene touch screen.
Researchers from the Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are demonstrating the super light transmittance and flexibility of single-layer graphene products.
Because graphene has an unimaginable conductivity, the concept of graphene batteries has become a life-saving straw to break through the bottleneck of battery technology. In particular, any technological breakthrough in the domestic electric vehicle industry is linked to graphene batteries.
With the continuous deepening of research, the successive overcoming of technical problems, and the continuous expansion of the application range, I believe that the age of graphene devices is not far away, and we can also look forward to what kind of surprises this "21st century magical material" will bring.
"Graphene batteries may be reformed: charging for 10 minutes to run 1,000 kilometers" Report: Spain Graphenano (a company that produces graphene on an industrial scale) and the University of Cordoba in Spain have jointly developed the first graphene polymer battery. The power storage is three times that of the best products on the market. An electric car powered by this battery can travel up to 1,000 kilometers, and its charging time is less than 8 minutes. Although this battery has various excellent properties, its cost is not high. The relevant person in charge of Graphenano said that the cost of this battery will be 77% lower than that of lithium batteries, which is completely within the consumer's range. In addition, in fields such as automotive fuel cells, graphene is also expected to bring revolutionary progress.
principle
An experiment in which graphene batteries use environmental heat to recharge themselves.
The experiment made a circuit which contained LEDs and was connected to ribbon graphene with wires. They just put graphene in a copper chloride solution and observed it. The LED light is on. In fact, they need 6 graphene circuits to form a series connection, so that the required 2V can be generated to make the LED light bright, and this picture can be obtained.
Xu Zihan and colleagues said that what happened here is that copper ions have a double positive charge and pass through the solution at a speed of about 300 meters per second because of the thermal energy of the solution at room temperature. When the ion violently crashes into the graphene ribbon, the collision will generate enough energy to cause the electrons that are not in situ to leave the graphene. There are two options for electrons: they can leave the graphene ribbon and combine with copper ions, or they can pass through graphene and enter the circuit.
It turns out that the flowing electrons are faster in graphene, exceeding its speed through the solution, so the electrons will naturally choose their path through the circuit. It is this point that lights up the LED lamp. "The electrons released tend to pass through the graphene surface rather than into the electrolyte. This is how the device generates voltage," Xu Zihan said.
Therefore, the energy generated by this device comes from the heat of the surrounding environment. They can increase the current by heating the solution, or use ultrasound to accelerate the copper ions. Relying only on the surrounding heat, they can keep their graphene batteries running for 20 days. However, there is an important question mark. Another hypothesis is that some chemical reaction produces electric current, just like a normal battery.
However, Xu Zihan and colleagues said that they ruled out this because they conducted several control experiments. However, these are introduced in some supplementary materials, and they do not seem to be placed on the arXiv website. They need to make public before anyone else makes a serious statement. From the surface value, this seems to be a very important result. Others also generate overcurrent in graphene, but just let water flow through it, so this is not really surprising. Moving ions can also produce this effect. This heralds a clean, green battery that only relies on environmental heat to drive. Xu Zihan and colleagues said: "This represents a huge breakthrough, the research is self-driving technology."
Capacity impact
From a microscopic point of view, the charging and discharging process of a battery is actually a process in which cations are "embedded" and "detached" in the electrode. Therefore, if there are more holes in the electrode material, the faster this process will proceed. From a macro perspective, it shows that the faster the battery charge and discharge.
The microstructure of graphene is a network structure composed of carbon atoms. Because of its extreme thinness (the thickness of only one layer of atoms), the movement of cations is very limited. At the same time, because of its network structure, electrode materials made of graphene also have sufficient holes.
From this perspective, graphene is undoubtedly a very ideal electrode material.
Research by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State, USA, shows that using graphene as the anode material of the battery will charge and discharge more than 10 times faster than lithium-ion batteries.
application
With the gradual breakthrough of mass production and large-size problems, the pace of industrial application of graphene is accelerating. Based on existing research results, the first commercial applications may be mobile devices, aerospace, and new energy. Battery field.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, the bendable screen has attracted much attention and has become the development trend of mobile device displays in the future. The future market of flexible display is broad, and the prospect of graphene as a basic material is also promising. Statistics show that the global demand for mobile phone touch screens in 2013 was about 965 million pieces. By 2015, the demand for large-size touch screens in tablet computers will also reach 230 million, providing a broad market for graphene applications. Researchers from South Korea’s Samsung have also produced transparent and flexible displays composed of multilayer graphene and other materials, and it is believed that large-scale commercialization is just around the corner.
On the other hand, new energy batteries are also an important area of graphene's earliest commercial use. Previously, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has successfully developed flexible photovoltaic panels with graphene nano-layers on the surface, which can greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing transparent and deformable solar cells. Such batteries may be used in night vision goggles, cameras and other small Application in digital equipment. In addition, the successful research and development of graphene super batteries has also solved the problems of insufficient capacity and long charging time of new energy vehicle batteries, greatly accelerating the development of the new energy battery industry. This series of research results paved the way for the application of graphene in the new energy battery industry.
Due to the characteristics of high conductivity, high strength, ultra-light and thin, the application advantages of graphene in the aerospace and military industry are also extremely prominent. Not long ago, NASA in the United States developed a graphene sensor used in the aerospace field, which can detect trace elements in the atmosphere at high altitudes and structural defects on spacecraft. Graphene will also play a more important role in potential applications such as ultralight aircraft materials.
