Elon musk's research team just made another groundbreaking discovery and EV batteries
a battery with five times the capacity of the industry standard lithium-ion design can now
Run for the Thousand or more Cycles required to power an electric car thanks to a new biologically
inspired battery membrane a novel method of commercializing groundbreaking Battery Technology
has been discovered by the Tesla research team creating opportunities for a new wave of
long-range robots and electric automobiles and so in today's episode let's find out more about this
Innovative Battery tech that could revolutionize the EV industry hello everyone welcome back to
Elon Musk Evolution where we bring you the most recent news about Elon Musk in his multi-billion
dollar company space news and the latest science and technology but before we begin make sure you
subscribe to our Channel and click the Bell icon so you don't miss any of our amazing videos the
method was unintentionally discovered by the Tesla research team while working on another way to
increase the viability of lithium sulfur batteries which are frequently referred to as the Holy Grail
of batteries due to the significant advantages they offer over conventional Lithium-ion batteries
compared to lithium-ion batteries that are used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles
lithium sulfur batteries offer a potential charge capacity that is five times higher but
due to their intrinsic instability which causes lithium sulfur batteries to change in size by 78
percent after each charging cycle they have not yet been acceptable for commercial usage if this
problem could be solved battery-powered devices would perform much better overall and several
environmental issues associated with lithium-ion battery such as the sourcing and disposal of rare
raw materials would be resolved the research team was looking at ways to restructure the battery's
cathode to stop the harmful chemical reactions that occur during the charging process but what
they found instead was a rare chemical phase of sulfur that stops the reaction the Breakthrough
allows sulfur to crystallize into monoclinic gamma phase sulfur instead of the chemical complex
known as polysulfides which could previously only be accomplished at high temperatures in
the lab since monoclonic sulfur has always been unstable under 95 degrees Celsius the
team says that at first it was difficult to believe that this was what they were finding
monoclinic gamma sulfur has only been created in a few experiments during the past Century
and it has only ever been able to be stable for a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes our study of it
a year later reveals that the chemical phase is not changed despite the fact that we had produced
it in a cathode that had undergone thousands of charged discharge Cycles without any performance
degradation the team stated the sulfur cathode was stable and had not degraded after four thousand
charge discharge Cycles in a year which is equivalent to 10 years of continuous operation the
battery's capacity was greater than three times that of a Lithium-Ion battery as was expected
with a goal of someday commercializing the technology the team are currently
attempting to completely comprehend the precise mechanism underlying the groundbreaking technique
the team states that moving away from a Reliance on materials that are expensive and challenging
to extract from the earth is a vital step for the development of batteries and expanding our ability
to use renewable energy sources this remains an exciting Discovery and one that could open a
number of doors for developing more sustainable and affordable Battery Technology and recently
Tesla's new lithium Refinery north of Corpus Christi Texas has officially started the building
process the automobile manufacturer intends to generate enough battery grade lithium at the new
facility to support the annual manufacturing of 1 million electric vehicles producing
lithium hydroxide at the new facility will help gigafactory Texas in Austin meet demand for its
own battery cell manufacturing the construction at the site located outside Corpus Christi Texas has
finally officially begun after taking a bit longer to get rolling Tesla has stated that it intended
to invest 365 million dollars into the lithium facility creating about 165 full-time employment
in addition to an additional 250 temporary positions during the roughly two-year construction
phase Elon Musk the company CEO stated during the event that the facility will generate
enough battery grade lithium annually to construct about 1 million electric vehicles the corporation
revised the schedule so that manufacturing would start in 2025 and construction would be completed
the following year musk once referred to the process of refining lithium as a license to print
money and he has urged other businesses to join in since it still intends to purchase Foundry grade
lithium from other suppliers in order to push the industry toward greater efficiency Tesla intends
to Pioneer a new production technology with this Factory and going back why are lithium sulfur
battery solid state since Lis cells are a solid state they do not need the liquid electrolyte
that conventional Lithium-ion batteries do they benefit from higher energy density and improve
safety compared to their liquid counterparts as a result among other things Lis batteries are
solid state due to their distinctive structure Lis batteries in contrast to Conventional lithium-ion
cells have a bipolar architecture with cathode and anode materials situated on each side of
the separator in general sulfur serves as the anode material while lithium metal or a lithium
alloy serves as the cathode material a solid separator often made of polyethylene or another
type of polymer material is then used to keep the active ingredients in place Lis cells have various
physical benefits over other types of batteries because they don't include liquid electrolyte
due to their higher storage density solid state batteries are able to store more energy
likewise because there is no liquid electrolyte present there is a significantly lower chance of
short-circuiting and thermal runaway there are far safer as a result than conventional cells which
can catch fire if they are punctured or damaged the development of lithium sulfur batteries could
result in more affordable lighter batteries with improved safety features the technology has the
potential to fundamentally alter aviation in the long run after initially finding usage in
special eye sectors Like Satellites drones and military vehicles by 2050 it will be possible to
use electric aircraft with short Range travel or vertical takeoff and Landing including personal
Aviation and flying taxis in urban areas the shift away from fossil fuels requires
batteries that operate above the basic constraints of lithium-ion technology lithium sulfur batteries
or Lis are among the most developed Beyond lithium ion in Lis the lithium-ion sells metal
which cathode is swapped out for comparatively inexpensive and abundant Elemental sulfur this
material also provides a theoretical possibility of a five-fold increase in capacity for the same
weight when compared to materials commonly utilized in Li ion cells lightweight cells
can be created more cheaply and with less environmental and social impact by employing
sulfur which also helps to solve the nickel and Cobalt production problems Lis batteries work via
a conversion mechanism as opposed to some other battery types like lithium-ion and sodium ion
which use an intercalation method in which Li ions are transported between electrodes where they are
stored to transfer the stored energy from the cell a reaction between Elemental sulfur and lithium
produces a number of polysulfides which are sulfur compounds that contain lithium by making
it possible to use lithium metal the lightest solid element as the anode this mode of operation
increases the gravimetric energy density or the amount of energy stored for a given weight of the
device compared to the present generation of batteries in the past most Lis research
has been centered on creating new materials to enhance the sulfur cathode the performance of Lis
batteries must be improved nevertheless in order to provide a competitive alternative to the widely
used lithium-ion cell and this realization has emerged in recent years comparing Lis batteries
to existing Battery Technology there are a number of benefits to consider including one an enhanced
gravimetric energy density to a much lower cost of raw materials three improved safety features and
four A reduced environmental load related to the cell components Lis batteries have a far better
energy density per unit weight than competing battery technologies which is their key benefit
theoretically Lis batteries can produce 2 700 watt hour per kilogram of energy although this
is lessened when used in a Cell the technique has been shown to be effective at 470 watt hour per
kilogram in a Cell format that is appropriate for the technology by the beginning of 2021 it
is anticipated that further advancements in the design of cells and materials will bring
this value above 500 watt hour per kilogram Lis cells will increase the number of applications
that can currently be electrified including those in large vehicles in aviation by going beyond the
limitations of Li ion batteries one of the the main challenges manufacturers have is lowering
the price of batteries nickel and Cobalt are two expensive elements that contribute significantly
to the cost of modern batteries sulfur is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and as a
result the materials utilized in the electrodes of Lis cells are relatively inexpensive with
increased commercialization especially in the production of the electrolyte the advantages of
economies of scale for Lis cells will become apparent forecasts indicate that this could
result in Lis cells that perform similarly to lithium-ion cells but cost less than half as much
due to ethical and environmental problems with mining practices and a lack of certainty over
Supply security the removal of transition metals a Cobalt from batteries is another crucial Factor
due to the way they work lithium sulfur cells are far safer than other battery types the chance of
a battery failing catastrophically is decreased by the conversion reaction which creates new
materials during charge and discharge and eliminates the need to host lithium ions
in materials further lowering the likelihood of a disastrous failure is the passivation of
the highly reactive lithium anode with sulfite compounds while the system is in operation Lis
cells could still have thermal runaway although Studies have shown that this failure would be
much less severe than in Lithium-ion cells likewise Lis technology that uses a safeguarding
solid-state layer at the anode will lessen the possibility of cell short-circuiting the
conversion mechanism also makes it possible for Lis cells to be securely stored for long periods
of time and since in a fully discharged condition enabling Air Freight Transportation since the
cell is not unstable at low discharge states in contrast to lithium-ion batteries these inherent
safety advantages will significantly speed up the adoption of Lis cells and lessen the need
for external safety components and battery packs the environmental impact of Battery Technology
including the components that make up the cells is becoming more and more of a worry as was already
mentioned nickel and Cobalt are commonly found in Lithium-ion batteries these minerals are now
produced through extensive mining operations along with this there are substantial social issues
particularly with relation to Cobalt Supply chains of which the vast majority come from mines in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo these metals can significantly contaminate water sources which in
turn can contaminate wildlife and food resources sulfur on the other hand is geographically
dispersed with a sizable production capability over all continents and is so abundant that the
U.S geographical survey is characterized it as almost most Limitless environmental organizations
also do not see any significant Health dangers associated with sulfur a lot of research was
done on lithium sulfur batteries for the sole purpose of overcoming the bottlenecks and Landing
this on the production floor and one of these is using seaweed derivatives so let's find out more
although lithium sulfur batteries have a lot of potential their capacity deteriorates quickly the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also known as Berkeley lab of the Department of energy has
just uncovered an unexpected discovery that might be able to solve this issue the team
led by Galileo discovered unexpectedly that Cara Gian a product of seaweed functions as a
stabilizer in lithium sulfur batteries increasing cycling in a longer lifetime are made possible by
improved stability their research was published by the Journal nano energy in a paper titled
nucleophilic substitution between polysulfides and binders unexpectedly stabilizing lithium
sulfur battery according to Leo the papers corresponding author energy storage is in high
demand but there is very little chemistry that can meet the cost Target sulfur is a very cheap
material it is essentially free additionally compared to lithium-ion the energy capacity
is substantially higher so one chemical that could be able to achieve the goal is lithium
sulfur there are now some limited commercial uses for recharge lithium sulfur batteries however the
critical killer in the chemistry is that the sulfur begins to dissolve leading to what is
known as the polysulfite shuttling effect Leo was working with a binder the substance that binds all
of the Active Components in a battery cell in an effort to solve this issue a binder is similar to
glue and Battery designers often choose an inert adhesive according to Leo we tried a binder and
it worked incredibly nicely when we questioned why we found out it was reacting it did so right
away with the polysulfide a covalent bonding structure was created the binder was able to
prevent the sulfur from dissolving by chemically interacting with it the scientists search for a
naturally occurring substance that would do the same function after realizing that they
came across carrageenan a material obtained from Red seaweeds and belonging to the same
functional group or group of atoms with a similar chemical reactivity as the synthetic polymer that
they had used in the earlier test Lou remarked we searched for something that was affordable
and easily accessible carrageenan is discovered to be a food thickening agent it really immobilized
the polysulfide and served as a glue working just as effectively as the synthetic polymer to
create an electrode that was incredibly stable to achieve his finding Liu collaborated with jingua
Gio of the advanced light source at Berkeley lab one of the strongest sources of soft X-ray and
ultraviolet radiation in the entire Globe guo said that the light source offered special x-ray based
instruments we want the device to simultaneously monitor the electrochemistry while the battery
is charged in this instance we use the components to create a special battery cell and then we used
x-rays to see the procedure in real time this kind of experiment can't be done anywhere else
Leo continued in this instance we have a special beam line to find sulfur designing a tool for
in situ requires a lot of work every time x-situ is simple however it didn't provide you with the
desired outcome in this instance we were able to track the sulfur's path using the in-situ cell it
turns out that is no effect wow it was awesome General Motors and organization that collaborates
with Berkeley labs energy storage and distributed Resources Division on Industrial Research endorsed
Leo's findings they independently tested it and saw the same effect we saw in fact the stability
was even better Leo added according to Liu the findings provide a completely fresh perspective
on battery chemistry scientifically it's a completely different idea to use a reactive
binder as opposed to an inert one he explained that is not how people think they believe that
a binder's role is to only physically bind items together the polysulfide needs to be chemically
bound as we discovered Leo and his team have been developing lithium sulfur batteries for
a while on a unique lithium sulfur electrode structure based on Nature's Own super efficient
ant nest they publish a study in Nano letters last year with this achievement in stabilizing
lithium sulfur batteries Leo is now working to extend the useful life of these batteries
we hope to reach thousands of Cycles he said in comparison to lithium ion batteries which now
ruled the market lithium sulfur batteries have an energy density that is more than twice as
high they could be used in drones and airplanes because they were also significantly lighter in
actuality lithium sulfur batteries provide nighttime power during the record-breaking
14-day solar-powered Flight of the unmanned aircraft Zephyr in 2010 to better comprehend
the molecular processes occurring within the cell Liu ghoul and their group will keep working what
occurs next after this polymer binds with sulfur is it reversible how does it interact with sulfur
and how Leo remarked understanding that will enable us to create more effective strategies
for extending the life of lithium sulfur batteries the does office of Energy Efficiency and renewable
energy provided funding for the study the study made use of the doe office of science
user facilities at Berkeley labs Advanced light source and molecular Foundry aside from lithium
sulfur batteries what other Alternatives can replace the lithium-ion battery let's find
out next in a comparison to sodium versus lithium batteries sodium ion batteries are a new form of
secondary battery and their operating principles are remarkably similar sodium ions are taken
from the cathode material and implanted in the anode material through the electrolyte during
the charging process and electrons are delivered to the anode to the external circuit to maintain
charge balance when discharging however it is completely the opposite the charging period for
sodium ion batteries is a backup power source might theoretically be cut in half compared
to lithium-ion batteries comparatively to lithium ion sodium ion batteries require different cathode
anode and electrolyte materials hence these materials must be altered as well the benefit
of sodium ion batteries is their lower price in addition to making up around 2.64 percent
of the elements in the Earth's crust sodium is easier to extract than lithium due to its more
plentiful resource base the economic advantage of sodium ion batteries will be greater compared to
the limited Supply and high cost of lithium and that ends today's episode please subscribe and
don't forget to like today's video and we'll see you in the next one thanks for watching