Illinibird
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Article in Motortrend:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Lithium sulfur batteries site:motortrend.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m&ved=2ahUKEwjanKXuxcD1AhUSHjQIHRlUCkMQ2wF6BAgEEAE&ei=ZXLpYZrWDpK80PEPmaipmAQ
Might lithium-sulfur batteries push solid-state aside as The Next Big Thing in battery technology? Silicon Valley battery tech company Lyten just came out of stealth mode at September's Motor Bella car show/mobility conference in metro Detroit after several years of defense department research, and it made a very promising pitch:
Triple the energy per weight!
Charged ions of lithium metal do the heavy lifting in a battery. When your Tesla is tethered to the Supercharger, these ions migrate through the electrolyte, across the separator, and plate out on the anode. Then when you floor the accelerator, they head in the other direction, forming chemical bonds with the cathode material. In today's electric vehicle batteries, these cathode materials (typically nickel/manganese/cobalt-oxide molecules) can only host 0.5 to 0.7 lithium ions each, whereas a single sulfur atom can host two lithium ions. Eureka—gravimetric densities jump from between 150 and 260 Wh/kg to 500 or more. Suddenly you'll get triple the range or one-third the battery weight.
But what about
The many buzzkills that have so far kept lithium-sulfur chemistry off the road include the extremely low electrical conductivity of sulfur, physical expansion of the cathode as sulfur atoms become Li2S molecules, and the dreaded "polysulfide shuttle" effect. Engineered materials solved the first by attaching sulfur atoms to more conductive carbon structures like nanotubes. The expansion problem is shared with today's solid-state battery technologies and seems surmountable.
The third has proven way thornier. See, sometimes when these Red Rover lithium ions head back over to the anode, they bring sulfur atoms with them, depleting the cathode. This causes lithium-sulfur batteries to die after maybe 100 charging cycles. That's fine for gee-whiz missions like an 11-day solar/electric airplane flight, but EVs require 1,000 to 2,000 cycles.
Lyten has patented a process for constructing a cathode of three-dimensional carbon graphene. Typical graphene sheets are only electrically reactive on their edges, but Lyten's proprietary three-dimensional graphene incorporates zillions of tiny planes of graphene that form millions of little boxes, in myriad geometric shapes. These can effectively "cage" sulfur atoms, which solves the conductivity problem, gives the sulfur some growing room, and prevents it from quitting its job to elope with lithium. Lyten says it's demonstrated a 1,400-cycle life, with the electrolyte as the limiting factor.
Lyten forms 3-D graphene in much the same way the semiconductor industry makes silicon wafers: by liberating the desired element from a stream of gas. To make a chip you might react silane gas (SiH4) in a pebble-bed reactor to obtain exceptionally pure elemental silicon. Lyten takes a stream of methane gas (CH4) and strategically shoots beams of electrical energy (plasma) into it. This dissociates the hydrogen and assembles the elemental carbon atoms into complex 3-D graphene. The liberated hydrogen can either be sold or used to greenly create about a third of the energy this process consumes.
Lyten hasn't shared details about its proprietary electrolyte yet, except to say that—like the anode and cathode—it includes no oxides. With no oxygen atoms in the battery, fire risk is practically nil. Lyten has severely overcharged cells and even driven nails through them and seen no more than 20 degrees of temperature rise. They function from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and tolerate fast charging, and they require far less heating and cooling. The materials involved are abundant and cheap enough to reduce EV costs to below that of combustion. They're nontoxic, recyclable, and abundant in North America—thereby dodging potential tariffs when "regional content" requirements of the USMCA trade agreement phase in for 2023.
Lyten claims its carbon footprint is 60 percent that of manufacturing typical lithium-ion cells. Cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic lithium-sulfur battery cells can be produced using existing equipment in half the time because the lithium goes in as a coated metal anode, not in the cathode. This saves that initial charging time required to initially form the lithium anode. Finally, Lyten says it's working with five automakers and plans to select a gigafactory site in Q1 of 2022 to support the incorporation of LytCells in vehicles starting with the 2025 or 2026 model years.That timing struck nearly every automotive and battery expert I consulted as exceptionally optimistic. First, LytCells can't directly replace today's batteries, as they operate at lower voltage (2.1 to 2.3 versus 3.7 volts). That's a simple re-engineering task, but performing the testing required of any emerging cell chemistry to verify safety and warranty compliance typically takes many years. Lithium-sulfur battery tech is more likely to launch in mobile devices, power tools, and Department of Defense applications, where the stakes are different. Then again, maybe that looming regional-content tariff threat will motivate heroic EV development effortThe many buzzkills that have so far kept lithium-sulfur chemistry off the road include the extremely low electrical conductivity of sulfur, physical expansion of the cathode as sulfur atoms become Li2S molecules, and the dreaded "polysulfide shuttle" effect. Engineered materials solved the first by attaching sulfur atoms to more conductive carbon structures like nanotubes. The expansion problem is shared with today's solid-state battery technologies and seems surmountable.
The third has proven way thornier. See, sometimes when these Red Rover lithium ions head back over to the anode, they bring sulfur atoms with them, depleting the cathode. This causes lithium-sulfur batteries to die after maybe 100 charging cycles. That's fine for gee-whiz missions like an 11-day solar/electric airplane flight, but EVs require 1,000 to 2,000 cycles.
Lyten has patented a process for constructing a cathode of three-dimensional carbon graphene. Typical graphene sheets are only electrically reactive on their edges, but Lyten's proprietary three-dimensional graphene incorporates zillions of tiny planes of graphene that form millions of little boxes, in myriad geometric shapes. These can effectively "cage" sulfur atoms, which solves the conductivity problem, gives the sulfur some growing room, and prevents it from quitting its job to elope with lithium. Lyten says it's demonstrated a 1,400-cycle life, with the electrolyte as the limiting factor.
Lyten forms 3-D graphene in much the same way the semiconductor industry makes silicon wafers: by liberating the desired element from a stream of gas. To make a chip you might react silane gas (SiH4) in a pebble-bed reactor to obtain exceptionally pure elemental silicon. Lyten takes a stream of methane gas (CH4) and strategically shoots beams of electrical energy (plasma) into it. This dissociates the hydrogen and assembles the elemental carbon atoms into complex 3-D graphene. The liberated hydrogen can either be sold or used to greenly create about a third of the energy this process consumes.
Lyten hasn't shared details about its proprietary electrolyte yet, except to say that—like the anode and cathode—it includes no oxides. With no oxygen atoms in the battery, fire risk is practically nil. Lyten has severely overcharged cells and even driven nails through them and seen no more than 20 degrees of temperature rise. They function from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and tolerate fast charging, and they require far less heating and cooling. The materials involved are abundant and cheap enough to reduce EV costs to below that of combustion. They're nontoxic, recyclable, and abundant in North America—thereby dodging potential tariffs when "regional content" requirements of the USMCA trade agreement phase in for 2023.
Lyten claims its carbon footprint is 60 percent that of manufacturing typical lithium-ion cells. Cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic lithium-sulfur battery cells can be produced using existing equipment in half the time because the lithium goes in as a coated metal anode, not in the cathode. This saves that initial charging time required to initially form the lithium anode. Finally, Lyten says it's working with five automakers and plans to select a gigafactory site in Q1 of 2022 to support the incorporation of LytCells in vehicles starting with the 2025 or 2026 model years.
That timing struck nearly every automotive and battery expert I consulted as exceptionally optimistic. First, LytCells can't directly replace today's batteries, as they operate at lower voltage (2.1 to 2.3 versus 3.7 volts). That's a simple re-engineering task, but performing the testing required of any emerging cell chemistry to verify safety and warranty compliance typically takes many years. Lithium-sulfur battery tech is more likely to launch in mobile devices, power tools, and Department of Defense applications, where the stakes are different. Then again, maybe that looming regional-content tariff threat will motivate heroic EV development efforts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Lithium sulfur batteries site:motortrend.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m&ved=2ahUKEwjanKXuxcD1AhUSHjQIHRlUCkMQ2wF6BAgEEAE&ei=ZXLpYZrWDpK80PEPmaipmAQ
Might lithium-sulfur batteries push solid-state aside as The Next Big Thing in battery technology? Silicon Valley battery tech company Lyten just came out of stealth mode at September's Motor Bella car show/mobility conference in metro Detroit after several years of defense department research, and it made a very promising pitch:
Triple the energy per weight!
Charged ions of lithium metal do the heavy lifting in a battery. When your Tesla is tethered to the Supercharger, these ions migrate through the electrolyte, across the separator, and plate out on the anode. Then when you floor the accelerator, they head in the other direction, forming chemical bonds with the cathode material. In today's electric vehicle batteries, these cathode materials (typically nickel/manganese/cobalt-oxide molecules) can only host 0.5 to 0.7 lithium ions each, whereas a single sulfur atom can host two lithium ions. Eureka—gravimetric densities jump from between 150 and 260 Wh/kg to 500 or more. Suddenly you'll get triple the range or one-third the battery weight.
But what about
The many buzzkills that have so far kept lithium-sulfur chemistry off the road include the extremely low electrical conductivity of sulfur, physical expansion of the cathode as sulfur atoms become Li2S molecules, and the dreaded "polysulfide shuttle" effect. Engineered materials solved the first by attaching sulfur atoms to more conductive carbon structures like nanotubes. The expansion problem is shared with today's solid-state battery technologies and seems surmountable.
The third has proven way thornier. See, sometimes when these Red Rover lithium ions head back over to the anode, they bring sulfur atoms with them, depleting the cathode. This causes lithium-sulfur batteries to die after maybe 100 charging cycles. That's fine for gee-whiz missions like an 11-day solar/electric airplane flight, but EVs require 1,000 to 2,000 cycles.
Lyten has patented a process for constructing a cathode of three-dimensional carbon graphene. Typical graphene sheets are only electrically reactive on their edges, but Lyten's proprietary three-dimensional graphene incorporates zillions of tiny planes of graphene that form millions of little boxes, in myriad geometric shapes. These can effectively "cage" sulfur atoms, which solves the conductivity problem, gives the sulfur some growing room, and prevents it from quitting its job to elope with lithium. Lyten says it's demonstrated a 1,400-cycle life, with the electrolyte as the limiting factor.
Lyten forms 3-D graphene in much the same way the semiconductor industry makes silicon wafers: by liberating the desired element from a stream of gas. To make a chip you might react silane gas (SiH4) in a pebble-bed reactor to obtain exceptionally pure elemental silicon. Lyten takes a stream of methane gas (CH4) and strategically shoots beams of electrical energy (plasma) into it. This dissociates the hydrogen and assembles the elemental carbon atoms into complex 3-D graphene. The liberated hydrogen can either be sold or used to greenly create about a third of the energy this process consumes.
Lyten hasn't shared details about its proprietary electrolyte yet, except to say that—like the anode and cathode—it includes no oxides. With no oxygen atoms in the battery, fire risk is practically nil. Lyten has severely overcharged cells and even driven nails through them and seen no more than 20 degrees of temperature rise. They function from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and tolerate fast charging, and they require far less heating and cooling. The materials involved are abundant and cheap enough to reduce EV costs to below that of combustion. They're nontoxic, recyclable, and abundant in North America—thereby dodging potential tariffs when "regional content" requirements of the USMCA trade agreement phase in for 2023.
Lyten claims its carbon footprint is 60 percent that of manufacturing typical lithium-ion cells. Cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic lithium-sulfur battery cells can be produced using existing equipment in half the time because the lithium goes in as a coated metal anode, not in the cathode. This saves that initial charging time required to initially form the lithium anode. Finally, Lyten says it's working with five automakers and plans to select a gigafactory site in Q1 of 2022 to support the incorporation of LytCells in vehicles starting with the 2025 or 2026 model years.That timing struck nearly every automotive and battery expert I consulted as exceptionally optimistic. First, LytCells can't directly replace today's batteries, as they operate at lower voltage (2.1 to 2.3 versus 3.7 volts). That's a simple re-engineering task, but performing the testing required of any emerging cell chemistry to verify safety and warranty compliance typically takes many years. Lithium-sulfur battery tech is more likely to launch in mobile devices, power tools, and Department of Defense applications, where the stakes are different. Then again, maybe that looming regional-content tariff threat will motivate heroic EV development effortThe many buzzkills that have so far kept lithium-sulfur chemistry off the road include the extremely low electrical conductivity of sulfur, physical expansion of the cathode as sulfur atoms become Li2S molecules, and the dreaded "polysulfide shuttle" effect. Engineered materials solved the first by attaching sulfur atoms to more conductive carbon structures like nanotubes. The expansion problem is shared with today's solid-state battery technologies and seems surmountable.
The third has proven way thornier. See, sometimes when these Red Rover lithium ions head back over to the anode, they bring sulfur atoms with them, depleting the cathode. This causes lithium-sulfur batteries to die after maybe 100 charging cycles. That's fine for gee-whiz missions like an 11-day solar/electric airplane flight, but EVs require 1,000 to 2,000 cycles.
Lyten has patented a process for constructing a cathode of three-dimensional carbon graphene. Typical graphene sheets are only electrically reactive on their edges, but Lyten's proprietary three-dimensional graphene incorporates zillions of tiny planes of graphene that form millions of little boxes, in myriad geometric shapes. These can effectively "cage" sulfur atoms, which solves the conductivity problem, gives the sulfur some growing room, and prevents it from quitting its job to elope with lithium. Lyten says it's demonstrated a 1,400-cycle life, with the electrolyte as the limiting factor.
Lyten forms 3-D graphene in much the same way the semiconductor industry makes silicon wafers: by liberating the desired element from a stream of gas. To make a chip you might react silane gas (SiH4) in a pebble-bed reactor to obtain exceptionally pure elemental silicon. Lyten takes a stream of methane gas (CH4) and strategically shoots beams of electrical energy (plasma) into it. This dissociates the hydrogen and assembles the elemental carbon atoms into complex 3-D graphene. The liberated hydrogen can either be sold or used to greenly create about a third of the energy this process consumes.
Lyten hasn't shared details about its proprietary electrolyte yet, except to say that—like the anode and cathode—it includes no oxides. With no oxygen atoms in the battery, fire risk is practically nil. Lyten has severely overcharged cells and even driven nails through them and seen no more than 20 degrees of temperature rise. They function from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and tolerate fast charging, and they require far less heating and cooling. The materials involved are abundant and cheap enough to reduce EV costs to below that of combustion. They're nontoxic, recyclable, and abundant in North America—thereby dodging potential tariffs when "regional content" requirements of the USMCA trade agreement phase in for 2023.
Lyten claims its carbon footprint is 60 percent that of manufacturing typical lithium-ion cells. Cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic lithium-sulfur battery cells can be produced using existing equipment in half the time because the lithium goes in as a coated metal anode, not in the cathode. This saves that initial charging time required to initially form the lithium anode. Finally, Lyten says it's working with five automakers and plans to select a gigafactory site in Q1 of 2022 to support the incorporation of LytCells in vehicles starting with the 2025 or 2026 model years.
That timing struck nearly every automotive and battery expert I consulted as exceptionally optimistic. First, LytCells can't directly replace today's batteries, as they operate at lower voltage (2.1 to 2.3 versus 3.7 volts). That's a simple re-engineering task, but performing the testing required of any emerging cell chemistry to verify safety and warranty compliance typically takes many years. Lithium-sulfur battery tech is more likely to launch in mobile devices, power tools, and Department of Defense applications, where the stakes are different. Then again, maybe that looming regional-content tariff threat will motivate heroic EV development efforts.
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