Smartphone Battery Size Reduced by Half

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a technology that can halve the size of lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones and laptops while maintaining their capacity. The miniaturization of batteries is expected to enable the downsizing of various electronic devices. On the 12th, the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced the research results of a joint research team including Professor Kwangseop Eom from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Jaehan Jeong from Hongik University, and Professor Jeongtae Lee from Kyung Hee University.

Development of Lithium-Selenium Battery to Replace Lithium-Ion Battery

The research team developed a technology to commercialize lithium-selenium batteries. Lithium-selenium batteries use lithium metal, which is used as a cathode material, as the anode material and selenium as the cathode material. Although selenium's low stability posed challenges for commercialization, the team succeeded by applying a self-developed electrochemical polymer surface treatment method.

The electrochemical polymer surface treatment method involves adding a small amount of aniline, a monomer of the conductive polymer (polyaniline), to the electrolyte during battery assembly and applying an electric current to polymerize it on the surface of the electrode active material. Using this method, the team coated selenium with a polyaniline protective layer, securing selenium's stability. The team reported that the battery capacity retention rate was about three times higher (over 200 charge-discharge cycles) compared to other electrode materials.

Can Reduce Lithium-Ion Battery Size by More Than Half

Professor Eom Kwangseop

By utilizing selenium as the electrode material, the battery volume was reduced by half. The theoretical capacity per volume of both electrodes in the lithium-selenium battery is 2060mAh per 1㎤ for the anode (lithium) and 3253mAh per 1㎤ for selenium, which is more than twice the capacity of conventional lithium-ion batteries (837mAh). Replacing lithium-ion batteries with lithium-selenium batteries would allow the volume to be reduced by more than half or enable the use of batteries with larger capacity.

Professor Kwangseop Eom said, "The greatest significance of this research achievement is the introduction of a new high-capacity and high-safety lithium-selenium battery through a very facile electrochemical polymer surface treatment method compared to existing lithium-selenium batteries," adding, "We expect that with further research and development, this method can be applied to other next-generation high-capacity secondary batteries (such as lithium-sulfur batteries)."

The research results were published on the 5th in the academic journal 'Advanced Functional Materials.'

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