Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

"A new technology that is expected to change the energy storage world-- 3D printing battery

The advantage of 3D printing battery is higher energy density than traditional lithium battery.

Can be made into different shapes and sizes

Lower production cost

Reduce waste and improve sustainability

Safer-No liquid electrolytes get hot

Longer service life

What is 3D printing and how does it work? 3D printing is also known as incremental manufacturing. 3D printing is the process of creating three-dimensional objects by printing and layering source materials. These layers reinforce and form the target objects in the digital file.

The first 3D printer was invented in the 1980s, and at the same time, technology is improving. 3D printing is now used to create a lot of things, including food, clothes, furniture, and even prosthetics.

3D printing materials include plastic, metal, powder, resin, and even wood and stone.

Disadvantages of traditional lithium-ion battery

Lithium-ion batteries are very useful and are used in daily life. Mobile phones, laptops, electric bicycles, power tools and solar backup storage all run on lithium-ion batteries.

By 2050, there will be 50 million lithium-ion battery-powered cars worldwide.

However, there are sustainability problems with lithium ions. Manufacturers must extract large amounts of lithium to make these batteries. Natural supply is not inexhaustible.

The extraction and refining process is energy-intensive and polluting. This can damage the soil and atmosphere and have a negative impact on local wildlife.

Traditional lithium batteries are bulky and have little flexibility in size or shape. In some cases, they catch fire easily and are difficult to recycle. In fact, every 20 tons of recycled lithium produces only one ton of reusable lithium.

The manufacturing process used to make traditional lithium-ion batteries is wasteful and expensive. Lithium-ion batteries are faced with the problems of capacity and energy density.

As a result, the race to find safer, cheaper and sustainable ways to produce batteries is under way. 3D printed solid-state batteries may be the answer.

What is the difference between solid-state batteries and traditional batteries? Traditional lithium batteries are different from solid-state batteries in cost and performance. But the main structural difference is the electrolyte.

The electrolyte forms a barrier that separates the positive (cathode) from the negative (anode) of the battery.

It is a compound that acts as a medium in which electric current can flow. In traditional batteries, electrolytes are liquids, such as sulfuric acid. In solid-state batteries, electrolytes are solids, such as ceramic compounds.

Solid-state batteries improve traditional lithium ions in key areas. These include safety, life, charging speed, charging cycle and energy density.

Solid-state batteries will exceed the life of current electric vehicle batteries. This is a big step forward.

Current estimates predict an expansion from 200000 miles to about 2 million miles. This is ten times longer than the lithium-ion batteries in use today.

Advantages of solid-state batteries

The manufacture of traditional batteries rolls four separate layers into cylinders. These are conductive materials, cathodes, anodes and electrolytes.

This process, known as the jelly roller structure, puts incredible pressure on these materials.

In order to survive intact in the process, they are used relatively heavily. Therefore, the traditional lithium-ion battery has the advantages of large size, large weight and high manufacturing cost.

In contrast, solid-state batteries use fewer materials to produce. They have a higher energy density, which means they can make it smaller, but keep the same energy.

The advantages of 3D printing solid state batteries 3D printing is usually more efficient than traditional manufacturing methods. Traditional manufacturing begins with large pieces of its main materials. Then cut it and cut it to the desired quantity.

This process produces scraps and scraps of materials, which may be difficult to recycle.

By contrast, 3D printing uses only a precise amount of source material. This reduces waste by 70% to 90% and makes the process cheaper.

Even if solid-state batteries are used, traditional manufacturing methods are complex. It requires extreme dryness and expensive machinery. So the reason why they are not yet ubiquitous.

The 3D printing method looks simpler and more concise. It is relatively easy to make batteries.

3D printing can create highly flexible and customizable objects. The manufacturer will design and manufacture batteries of different shapes and sizes. As a result, batteries can be created to accommodate the design, rather than designers adapting to bulky shapes.

The accuracy of 3D printing is a great advantage of battery manufacturing. Precision printing can produce batteries with tiny pores, channels and lattices. These increase the surface area of the battery, thus increasing its capacity.

Engineers at the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow tested 3D printed lithium batteries. The results of using nano-and microscale pores show that the capacity of a battery with a porosity of 70% is 2 to 3 times that of its solid equivalent.

The results, published in the Journal of Power, explain more.

"the 3D printing process we used in this study provides us with significant control over electrode porosity and enables us to design a new metamaterial with great precision that can solve some of the shortcomings of the current generation of lithium-ion batteries. We have created a battery with high specific capacity and area capacity with excellent cycling performance."

-- Dr. Shanmugam Kumar, James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow

This means that less lithium is needed to store more electricity. This can only be good news for the earth.

Development status of 3D printing battery

Several companies around the world are developing solid-state 3D printing batteries. Saku ú Corporation of California and Blackstone Resources of Switzerland are the two frontrunners.

Saku, a technology company, makes 3Ah solid-state lithium batteries. This is similar to the batteries currently used in hand-held power tools. It uses Sakuu's proprietary technology to print each layer of the battery at once. This includes ceramic electrolytes for separating anodes and cathodes.

According to Inceptivemind.com, Saku ú claims that its new 3D printing battery is "equal to or better" than the currently available battery.

At present, the energy density of lithium battery reaches 500-700Wh / L. Saku ú expects their 3D printed lithium battery to reach 1200 Wh / L by 2023.

"the advent of secure, sustainable and high-performance SSB using new 3D printing methods can solve key supply chain and security issues while transcending the limitations of today's lithium-ion batteries."

-Robert Bagheri, founder and CEO of Saku ú

Blackstone Technology Blackstone Group has advanced 3D printing technology. They make electrodes for liquid electrolyte batteries and solid-state batteries.

They developed thick layer technology (TLT). Its solid-state 3D batteries have 20% higher energy density than existing batteries. Blackstone aims to increase that number by at least 100 per cent.

"our 3D printed batteries enable us to increase the energy density of charge carriers by 20% while significantly reducing the impact on the environment. The patented process is based on an ecological, pure water-based process and can reduce waste by 50%. In this way, we are making an important and lasting contribution to the transportation revolution and the fight against climate change.

-- founder and CEO of Ulrich Ernst,Blackstone Resources

Conclusion 3D printing has completely changed the manufacturing industry. And in the next few years, it will only become more common. Therefore, 3D printing battery will become the next development trend in the field of battery technology.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: new Research (ID:chuxinyanjiu), author: Steve Brown, compiled by Tang Poetry

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