'Silicon Twigim' Doubles Electric Vehicle Driving Range

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A technology that can more than double the driving range of electric vehicles using a silicon-based anode material made from corn starch, oil, water, and surfactants has been developed by domestic researchers. Since the anode material for electric vehicle secondary batteries can be easily made from materials found in everyday life, it is expected to contribute to enhancing the price competitiveness of electric vehicles.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced on the 21st that Dr. Jeong Hoon-gi's team from the Energy Storage Research Group developed a carbon-silicon-based anode material with more than four times the capacity and significantly faster charging speed compared to graphite-based anode materials used in batteries.

Development of Anode Material Using Silicon Frying

Water, oil, starch, silicone, and surfactants are used to prepare an emulsion to form micelles, which then undergo heating and carbonization processes to form a carbon-silicon composite.

The research team conceived the idea of producing silicon-based anode materials through a frying process while eating fried food. They dissolved starch in water and dispersed silicon in oil, then heated the mixture to create a carbon-silicon composite material. Through a simple heating process similar to frying, the carbon and silicon composite was firmly fixed.

The carbon-silicon composite material made through the frying process suppressed the volume expansion of silicon by the carbon structure, preventing volume expansion. It also maintained stable capacity even after more than 500 charge-discharge cycles. It exhibited a capacity more than four times higher (360mAh/g → 1530mAh/g) than conventional graphite-based anode materials.

Applicable to Electric Vehicles and ESS

The carbon-silicon composite material is attracting attention as a material that can store more than ten times the energy of graphite, the anode material currently used in commercial electric vehicle batteries. However, silicon’s volume rapidly expands and capacity significantly decreases with repeated charge-discharge cycles. In particular, research to replace graphite has been ongoing due to complex production processes and costs.

Dr. Jeong said, "We developed a carbon-silicon composite material using easily obtainable materials from daily life, such as corn starch, and through simple mixing and heat treatment without complex reactors. This easy process and excellent properties have great potential for mass production and commercialization." He added, "It is expected to be applied to lithium-ion secondary batteries in the future and used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS)."

The research results were introduced in the latest issue of Nano Letters, an international journal in the field of nanotechnology.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.