Japanese researchers triple li-ion battery capacity using metal foam

A new material has been developed by Japanese researchers, which has the ability to triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. Sumitomo Electric Industries has worked to set up a “small-scale production line” for producing such a material at its Osaka Works which is its R&D center. This project is named as “Aluminum-Celmet“.

Aluminum-Celmet forms the base of a highly efficient battery in which the porosity power is up to 98 per cent. It essentially is the replacement for the aluminum foil anode in a secondary rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This porous characteristic of Aluminum-Celmet forms the basis for a huge volume of lithium compound that helps in the flow of electricity.

This development by Sumitomo Electric is infact an outgrowth of its previous work on nickel and nickel-chromium materials which was tagged as Celmet generated from cell and metal. The way these are manufactured involves a high porosity conductive coating to form a foam made of plastic plated with nickel.

The foam is removed by heating the material which results into a 3-D mesh that is spherical in shape and has open pores. This can be easily processed by conventional methods which are cutting and attaching. Hence, Sumitomo Electric decided to use nickel-metal hydride and nickel-cadmium battery cells.

However, the advantage of the new Aluminum-Celmet material lies in it being light and having an improvised electrical conductivity power which can easily avoid corrosion resistance. These are the exact qualities that makes it well-suited for secondary lithium-ion batteries.

The firm has estimated that a lithium-ion automotive battery using Aluminum-Celmet will be able to provide one and a half times more power and a higher charging capacity of up to three times. It also seems to be an answer for improved capacitors seeking an aluminum capacitor having both positive and negative conductors by using a dielectric separator.

What does this mean to you and I? For starters it says: Cars like the Nissan Leaf that need to push the limits to go 100 miles will be going 300 miles on a charge. Probably more than that because of the lesser weight of the new batteries. This is reminiscent of the early ’80’s when cell phones were big and clunky and didn’t work half the time. Just image what electric vehicles will be like in 20 years. Are these exciting times to be alive or what?