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Nanostructure Research: Electric Car Charging In 5 Minutes?

 
3,036 views Apr 4, 2011

BMW ActiveE Concept charging port

BMW ActiveE Concept charging port

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No sooner do I discuss University of Illinois researchers who have created 3D antennas for mobile phones using nanotechnology than another group of researchers at the University of Illinois (this time at Urbana-Champaign) have developed 3D material for batteries that combines the qualities of supercapacitors with those of batteries and could change the entire battery paradigm.

Professor Paul Braun and his colleagues just published in the March 20th edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology their results that showed ultra fast charge and discharge rates by "using cathodes made from a self-assembled three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoarchitecture consisting of an electrolytically active material sandwiched between rapid ion and electron transport pathways."

What this could mean, according to the excited science and technology press, are electric cars that could be charged in five minutes, a laptop in just a couple of minutes and a cell phone in seconds.

While thin film technology has allowed faster charging capabilities than seen in your typical li-ion batteries but it can't store the energy well, meaning that a mobile device would run out of power in mere seconds.

University of Illinois 3D nanostructure for battery cathodes

University of Illinois 3D nanostructure for battery cathodes

What Braun and his team have done essentially is to take the thin film technology but built it up through self-assembly into a three-dimensional structure thereby increasing its surface area and its ability to store energy.

The actual structure apparently resembles a lattice of tightly packed spheres. Metal is used to fill in the spaces around the spheres and then it is all melted leaving a 3D scaffold that appears like a sponge. Then the structure is electropolished that increases the size of the pores.

The result is that lithium ions can move rapidly through the material with a high electrical conductivity.

According to Braun this could revolutionize the battery. "We like that it's very universal," Braun is quoted as saying in a number of articles covering the report. "This is not linked to one very specific kind of battery, but rather it's a new paradigm in thinking about a battery in three dimensions for enhancing properties."

This story, written by Dexter Johnson, was originally posted on IEEE Spectrum, an editorial partner of High Gear Media.





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Comments (10)

  1. By Matt Posted: 4/4/2011 11:38am PDT

    "Putting the Cart Before Horse"
    The USA's Power Grid System is already being held together with ducttape, bailing wire and bubble gum. Putting more load on the already stressed/outdated system is only going to compound the problem. Have we all forgotten about the "Brown-Outs" or "Rotating Blackout" when we faced those unusually hot summers?
    Oh how short the memories of the GP(general public)is!!
     
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  2. john_v avatar John Voelcker Posted: 4/4/2011 12:11pm PDT

    @Matt: Actually, there's a comprehensive 2007 study done jointly by the Electric Power Research Industry (EPRI) + Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that looked at the issue of incremental demand from plug-in vehicles. Its conclusions were that the demand increase will be gradual, predictable, and if recharged at night, require no new capacity at all. How utilities incent drivers to recharge at the desired times is the big question, but this issue has been studied in quite some depth. The report (in 2 volumes) is worth a read if you're not familiar with it.
     
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  3. By Matt Posted: 4/4/2011 6:15pm PDT

    @John:In theory the idea is sound BUT the problem with it is that these EV will be plugged into the grid when the commuters get to their job, or do their daily errands. Do you think that they want to take the chance of being stuck in traffic with a 1/2 charge? Granted Hybrids won't face this problem but an all EV vehicle will. Yes I agree that the demand increase will be gradual but I don't see as of yet the monies being put into upgrading our outdated grid system for this demand. As much as I hate to admit it the US is being traded on the world market like a commodity. When it(the US)no longer produces any returns it will be tossed aside. The elite have the resources to move their family to another country to set up shop where as the poor will be stuck with the mess that's left. I hope I'm wrong but the monies aren't being reinvested back into the US for long run. Unfortunately it's becoming more apparent that short term profits are the norm on Wall Street/Global Market.
     
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  4. By David E. Manwell Posted: 4/4/2011 8:00pm PDT

    The above 5 minute recharging breakthrough, if it comes through, could eliminate assumptions about incentives for off-peak recharging, since people could then recharge virtually anytime charge was low, such as on a long trip when they didn't want to devote special scheduling to it, much as they do now when stopping at a gas station.
    It could virtually eliminate "range anxiety", as a tremendous asset for the nascent electric car industry.

    That said though, it would burden the grid more than current slower charging cycles would, since they can generally rely on naturally off-peak periods of reduced human activity for recharging.

    Assuming such capability does arise though, yes, the electric grid would need improving.
     
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  5. By David E. Manwell Posted: 4/4/2011 9:27pm PDT

    But we do need electric cars. They help wean us from foreign oil. The grid needs more power, but w/o oil. Fighting climate change needs getting off fossil fuels. So we need gridpower from more, larger, and taller wind machines. 10 MW windmills now exist. Their power would cost 3.5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s less than the most economical coal or nuclear plants – and w/o needing tax subsidies.

    Grid improvement needs money. Is it wasteful? W/o it, the climate change it could fight would further melt glaciers, raising ocean levels over current coastlines, devastating existing seaports. Re-siting them would be frustrated by flooding’s hard-to-predict limits. Intercontinental trade would be curtailed, hampering assembly of finished products from parts, produced worldwide. Wouldn’t allowing this chain of consequences cost much more than installing more wind?
     
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  6. By David E. Manwell Posted: 4/5/2011 7:09am PDT

    Do windfarms stop w/o wind? Sure: Steam or hydro plants also stop (for maintenance or unexpected breakdowns). The grid’s operation’s always allowed this. "Spinning reserve" energy exists against it.
    Earth’s rotation & Sun’s heat keeps windy states normal. Assume a 350 mile radius (the rough distance between St. Lawrence River hydro and NY City) area. It has many windfarms. At one, wind stops: long distance lines bring in others’ backup. Wind can be its own spinning reserve.
    With other power sometimes needed for that, operating wind power brings
     
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  7. By ev enthusiast Posted: 4/5/2011 9:46am PDT

    hi john,
    utility companies already do that with their different rate charges, based on time.
    but they are now getting more sophisticated. edison has already installed the new meters at my house - probably a year ago.
    these new meters require no one from edison to come look at them any more. edison can get a reading from it any time they want. they havent said so, but they will eventually use them to start charging us based upon whatever time schedule they need, as incentive to use electricity when it is at less than peak.
     
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  8. By Elec-Engr Posted: 4/5/2011 10:27am PDT

    This ignores some basic Engineering. The 24KWh battery in the Leaf can output 24,000 watts for one hour (32 horsepower for one hour). To charge this battery in one hour requires 24,000 watts (at 100% efficiency). The average US household outlet is 120v x 15 amps = 1800 watts. To charge in 6 minutes is 240,000 watts. At 240V ("special" outlet) that is 1000 amps. That is the power of a large neighborhood, for one car, and would require very bulky cables. The basic fact is that electric cars use a lot of electricity. 1 horsepower = 750 watts or after charging and conversion efficiency losses a rule of thumb is 1hp=1kw.
     
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  9. By Revolution R1 Driver Posted: 4/5/2011 12:43pm PDT

    The high speed charging possibility is a strange wet dream we see repeatedly bombarding us as the solution to a problem that doesn't really exist. Who NEEDS to charge in 6 minutes? First issue... I'd have to drive to the recharging station, cause I'm not spending the money on the infrastructure to do that at home. So I'm wasting my time and range driving to a charging station... which will probably eat up a lot more than 6 minutes... I could see a 100 amp outlet at my house and that would take an hour FROM EMPTY to charge to full (not really... CC/CV and all that),. Second issue, if someone decides to put this 6 minute or less infrastructure in place, they need to make a profit off the investment... and who is going to be the market since 90+% of the people can just charge at home for normal rates without taxing the power grid? Only people I can see being willing to pay for this ability are people driving long business trips... but then a IC car would be a better solution, or a bus/train/plane ticket. Also, no one brings up "The power grid is going to crash" over cell phones, computers, media centers, plasma tvs, microwave ovens etc etc...
    I see red herrings!
     
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  10. By Kevin Posted: 4/5/2011 1:26pm PDT

    Maybe it's about time for the utility companies to start upgrading their infrastructure...
    I hate seeing innovation stifled by something as simple as a lack of planning on the part of a utility provider. This exact situation is happening right now between the likes of Netflix-vs-ISPs, and various streaming services-vs-telcos.
     
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