"Electric Cars Run 100km Further with Silicon Anodes"

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a technology that can improve the performance of batteries used in electric vehicles by about 25%. This technology increases battery capacity by replacing the anode material from graphite to silicon. The research team introduced that by utilizing this technology, the average driving range of electric vehicles was extended by 100 km.

On the 1st, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced that a joint research team led by Dr. Minah Lee of the Clean New Technology Research Center and Dr. Jihyun Hong of the Energy Materials Research Division developed a silicon-based anode material application technology.

The technology developed by the research team replaces the graphite-based anode material used in conventional batteries with a silicon-based material. The team developed a special solution that enables the application of silicon-based anode materials to batteries. Lithium ions travel through the electrolyte in the solution into the internal structure of the anode, allowing pre-lithiation to occur so that the silicon anode material can function properly.

Using silicon-based anode materials in batteries can store more than four times the energy compared to graphite. However, more than 20% of lithium ions are lost, causing a reduction in the battery's energy storage capacity. Therefore, pre-lithiation technology, which adds lithium to the anode in advance, is being researched. Most studies focus on methods using lithium powder, but the use of lithium powder has been criticized for its high explosion risk and cost.

The research team reported that silicon-based anodes pretreated for 5 minutes using their self-developed solution showed lithium loss within 1% during the first charge, demonstrating a high initial efficiency exceeding 99%. As a result of manufacturing batteries using anodes treated in this way, they announced that an energy density 25% higher than commercial batteries (406 Wh/kg → 504 Wh/kg) was achieved.

Dr. Minah Lee said, "By introducing computational materials science techniques and utilizing optimally designed molecular structures, we were able to significantly improve the efficiency of high-capacity silicon-based anodes through a simple method of adjusting only the solution temperature and processing time. This can be easily applied to roll-to-roll processes, making mass production using existing industry battery manufacturing facilities highly feasible." Dr. Jihyun Hong added, "By applying this pretreatment technology, the driving range of electric vehicles can be increased by at least 100 km on average compared to the current range."

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