The battery is a kind of pretense that directly converts the energy generated by the chemical reaction into electrical energy. It has stable voltage, stable current, long-term stable power supply, little external influence, simple structure, easy to carry, easy to charge and discharge operation, stable and reliable performance, which brings a lot of convenience to modern social life.

In 1800, the Italian scientist Volta made a Volta stack by contacting different metals with an electrolyte, which is considered to be the first power device in human history. Humans have invented lead-acid batteries, zinc-manganese dioxide dry batteries using NH4Cl as electrolyte, cadmium-nickel batteries, iron-nickel batteries, alkaline zinc-manganese batteries and lithium ion batteries.

As the topic of Samsung Note7 explosion continues to ferment, the battery behind this once again became the focus of our attention. Many people can't help worrying, are we going to stay with the lithium battery whose performance is close to the limit for a long time? The answer is of course no. In fact, we still have many new batteries that are poised to break the pattern. Now let's take a look at the new battery technology.

1. Domestic super battery debut

Recently, Extreme Power Technology (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. showed a super battery that can be called "horror" in terms of endurance and charging capacity. It takes only 3-5 minutes to fully charge the battery.

The battery adopts a cylindrical design, which is neatly photographed in a row. This design ensures that there is a gap in the middle of each battery to facilitate heat dissipation.

Wei Zhe, chairman of Extreme Power, said that this super battery is mainly used in buses and cranes that pick up containers at the terminal. An electric bus requires 297 batteries.

He said, "Our battery is a nickel-metal hydride battery. Although it can't be as thin and light as a lithium battery in size and weight, it is definitely much better than lithium batteries in terms of safety and charging ability."

It is understood that in the case of normal temperature 20-40 ℃, the super battery charge only takes 3-5 minutes, and the life is 5-8 years. On a hybrid bus, the super battery can recover energy whenever the vehicle brakes, which means it can be automatically charged. It is estimated that after using the super battery, the fuel efficiency of a hybrid bus can reach about 40%.

In addition, the battery safety is also better than that of lithium batteries. Super batteries have undergone a series of experiments such as needle punching, squeezing, high temperature, and falling. They will not explode as easily as lithium batteries.

2. Honda commercial magnesium battery is here

Recently, Honda Automobile and a research and development team have worked together to develop the world's first practical rechargeable magnesium battery. It is understood that the cost of magnesium is 96% lower than that of lithium. In addition, the battery life is longer. Japanese media reported that the new battery may become a disruptive product. After installing the new battery, smartphones and other devices can be charged once. Longer battery life.

According to reports, the Saitama Industrial Technology Center (Saitec) is the leader of the R&D activity in Japan. The Honda R&D team evaluated the feasibility of the battery in Wako City. Developers expect magnesium batteries to be commercially available in smartphones and other portable devices at the beginning. Magnesium battery developers hope to sell their products by 2018. Honda Motor and the Saitec team will showcase batteries at the Chiba (near Tokyo, Japan) scientific conference next month.

It is understood that researchers have encountered the same difficulties when using magnesium in rechargeable batteries. During charging and discharging, the charging performance of magnesium will rapidly deteriorate. Based on this, the researchers have developed a new material, vanadium oxide, which will It is applied to the positive electrode, so that ions will flow more easily between the vanadium oxide and magnesium negative electrodes. Vanadium oxide can increase the number of times magnesium is charged and prevent decline. To improve safety, the researchers added an organic substance, which can reduce the risk of fire in magnesium batteries.

3. Lithium-sulfur battery

Recently, the Japan Institute of Industrial Technology announced that it has jointly developed a lithium-sulfur battery with the University of Tsukuba. By using a metal-organic framework as a battery separator, it has achieved long-term stable charge and discharge cycle characteristics. According to reports, this lithium-sulfur battery can still maintain a charging capacity of up to 900mAh/g after 1500 cycles of testing at a current density of 1C (current value at the end of discharge after 1 hour of constant current discharge).

Lithium-sulfur batteries that use sulfur as the positive electrode of lithium batteries have the characteristics of high positive electrode capacity (theoretical value is 1675mAh/g), and are expected as a new generation of secondary batteries. Lithium-sulfur batteries were used during the maiden voyage of the solar aircraft in 2008. During the daytime, the photovoltaic panels on the solar aircraft only provide the ability to fly, and they charge their lithium-sulfur batteries to maintain the power required for night flight.

4. Solid-state lithium battery

The main difference between a solid-state lithium battery and an ordinary lithium-ion battery is that it replaces the traditional organic electrolyte with a solid electrolyte. Traditional lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that use organic electrolytes may cause the electrolyte to heat up due to abnormalities such as overcharging and internal short circuits, and there is a risk of spontaneous combustion or even explosion. The solid-state lithium battery using solid electrolyte not only greatly improves the safety, but also greatly improves the service life and energy density.

Since the solid-state lithium battery does not contain liquid inside, it eliminates any liquid leakage problems, and its volume and weight are also reduced compared with traditional lithium batteries. At the same time, its adaptability is stronger. These advantages are very conducive to solid-state lithium batteries in energy storage and new The application in the field of energy vehicles. At present, scientific research and industry are developing and producing solid-state lithium batteries, and regard them as the most promising new generation battery products.

5. New type flow battery

Compared with the conventional rechargeable battery, the flow battery is larger in scale, because the form and function of the flow battery are different from the common lithium ion battery. In the flow battery cell, the liquid electrolyte circulates in two container boxes, and the two boxes are separated by a thin film. The charge transfer is achieved by ions passing through the membrane, and the entire process is similar to the principle of hydrogen fuel cell power generation. The flow battery pack has higher safety than the lithium ion battery. Even if it is left for a long time, the electricity will not be lost, so it is very suitable for storing renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in the United States have developed a new organic flow battery using low-cost and sustainable synthetic molecules. Its production cost is about 60% lower than the cost of common all-vanadium flow batteries. This also makes the new flow battery occupy a huge advantage in the field of energy storage.

6. Liquid metal battery

Liquid metal batteries convert chemical energy into electrical energy through the redox reaction of liquid metals. The liquid metal is a characteristic of the battery. The liquid metal battery has high rate charge and discharge performance and the scalability of the battery system. This also allows the liquid metal battery to meet the dual applications of energy type and power type. Large-scale energy storage has broad application prospects.

A group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a new all-liquid metal battery system, which is cheap to build and has a long service life. According to the research team, this device allows wind and solar renewable energy to compete with traditional energy sources.

7. Blade green battery

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland recently developed an inexpensive new material that will serve as a negative electrode in a new generation of batteries. In the experiment, the team found that after the oak leaf was heated to 1000 degrees Celsius, its carbon-based structure would be disintegrated, and then the remaining material could contain electrolyte. Right now, the team is also testing other natural materials, including peat soil and banana peels.

8. Quick charge graphene battery

As we all know, the life of the battery will gradually decrease with the increase of the number of charge and discharge, and the R&D personnel of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia is trying to solve this problem. They have developed a new type of graphene battery. This battery not only has a super fast charging capacity (a few seconds), but also its durability is not ordinary. The life span of the R&D personnel is for a lifetime. The use of graphene materials overcomes all the shortcomings of traditional batteries. At the same time, this product is also very environmentally friendly and inexpensive.

9. Battery made of sugar

The Virginia Tech team has developed a battery made of sugar, which has the advantage of superior battery life. The researchers separated malt saccharin from sugar, which is the energy source of this new battery. When maltosaccharin comes into contact with air, the battery will release electrons to generate electricity. Because the sugar is cheap and the stock is large, this new battery has a low cost, and the most important thing is that it has degradable properties.

10. Nanowire battery that can't be damaged

This battery was completely inadvertently discovered by the University of California's R&D personnel, and it made the traditional lithium battery useless. Researchers made nanowires with gold and then combined them with new materials. This combination greatly increased the number of charge and discharge times of the battery, and the battery performance did not deteriorate with the increase in charge times.

11. Self-destruction battery

The self-destructive battery is not for the mass market, but it can show its talents in special fields, and it also overcomes the problem of environmental pollution caused by disposable batteries. This battery was developed by Iowa State University and is mainly used for military purposes. It can be detonated with light, heat or liquid. In addition, even if it enters the water after detonation, it will not cause pollution to the water body.

12. Edible salt water battery

This battery has brought the concept of environmental protection to the extreme. In order to clarify the name of its own battery, AquionEnergy's Witley actually really ate a battery and eat it (it must not be very delicious). The components of this battery are made of bio-derived materials, they may be dust, cotton, carbon or salt water before they are transformed into batteries. However, this battery is not intended for mobile devices, it is to do a "big cause", such as home or company backup power supply, while providing electricity is environmentally friendly wind or solar energy.

Lithium-ion batteries also have relatively large bottlenecks in terms of utility, such as energy density, safety, and cost. It is believed that with the development of new technologies, new batteries will continue to compete with lithium-ion batteries in the future. Of course, the battle for new and old batteries may take some time, but in the future, new battery technologies will bring a safer experience at a lower cost.