if you're interested in electric vehicles but find yourself wanting to wait for
some sort of battery breakthrough before finally pulling the trigger and buying one odds are it's
because of solid-state batteries their promise of being safer more reliable storing more power
and charging faster have stimulated every green energy enthusiast's dreams but finding the right
materials have proven to be quite the challenge it's not like these materials just grow on trees
or do they one team of researchers may have actually stumbled upon a solid conducting ion
material that's not only betting the competition but actually comes from that's right trees
batteries could this new material finally lead to the long-promised solid-state batteries
we've been waiting for will the eevee game forever be changed by this breakthrough
or is this just another quirky science project relegated to the annals of academia
we love this question deserve a deeper dive today on tuba davinci
special thanks to hone health for sponsoring this video find out how you can fight back against
father time with home health the quest for solid state batteries actually dates all the way back
to the mid 19th century their key characteristic is that they use solid electrodes and electrolytes
instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes commonly found in today's batteries they're seen
somewhat as a holy grail for battery technology in that they both are safer and more stable than
batteries with liquid electrolytes essentially the solid electrolyte could allow the battery to
hold more energy and charge faster we've actually done a deep dive on solid-state battery technology
which you can check out here one of the biggest roadblocks scientists have yet to really overcome
is finding that just right material it's a bit like goldilocks and the three barriers polymers
like cellulose are malleable enough to fit well with the other components of the battery but
aren't great conductors of electricity inorganic materials like ceramics make
excellent conductors but are often thick rigid and brittle regularly cracking and breaking under
the physical requirements the batteries demand but a team of researchers from brown university
and the university of maryland may finally have discovered a material that is just right
and it actually comes from a pretty unlikely place trees so how exactly do you turn trees
into electrolytes for batteries to begin with let's cast our minds back to seventh grade biology
remember discussing those differences between plants and animal cells one key difference is
that plant cells have cell walls one crucial component of these cell walls is a biomaterial
known as cellulose in fact cellulose is one of the most abundant biomaterials on the planet
in plants and some bacteria this tough fibrous water insoluble polymer performs an integral role
in stabilizing the structure of the plant's cell walls cellulose is organized into long
chains of polysaccharide fibers and it's these fibers with these strong structural attributes
that have captured the researchers attention after extracting the cellulose nanofibrils
which have a diameter of only about 1 100 000 of the thickness of a sheet of paper the researchers
combine them with copper ions typically cellulose fibers exist in tightly packed
ion isolating bundles not ideal in something like a battery but when combined with copper ions
the molecular chains open up to superhighways for rapid ion transportation the resulting material
feels like an all-around wind it proves high lithium ion conductivity as well as a wide
window of electrochemical stability meaning it can accommodate both the lithium on metal anode
and high voltage cathode it's also as flexible as a sheet of paper today's lithium-ion
batteries are sort of the unsung heroes of the modern technology driven world we live in
everything from computers and cell phones to electric cars
owe a debt of gratitude to lithium-ion batteries like all innovations battery technology is ready
for the next phase of evolution according to the research at brown university a solid electrolyte
could help resolve some of the limitations inherent in liquid batteries before we get
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health and all of you for making this show possible they say that as well as liquid
electrolyte batteries function at high currents they can develop tiny filaments of lithium metals
called dendrites which can cause the batteries to eventually short circuit this happens as the
dendrites continue to form and encroach upon the separator and if you puncture the separator
well the positive and negative touch and no bueno salt electrolytes have some structure and rigidity
and could potentially eliminate or at least greatly reduce dendrite formation making lithium
on batteries that much more stable and reliable on top of that with liquid batteries there's
still the issue of these electrolytes being both toxic and flammable while it's incredibly rare for
lithium batteries to explode it does happen while the majority of battery enthusiasts may not be at
all worried about this it is a regular talking point brought up by the average consumer who
after all are the ones we are trying to convince if we want to see greater and greater battery and
ev proliferation solid-state batteries especially ones with electrolytes derived from trees could
effectively eliminate the issue of flammability even in the event of puncturing or other direct
damage this new material is also generally considered to be more green than other materials
cellulose already appears in a number of consumer products the materials are also
biodegradable and carbon neutral but won't this just lead to even more deforestation won't this
offset their environmental impact well maybe maybe not cellulose nanofibers can already
be processed at industrial scale quantities at a very low cost by simply harvesting them as a
byproduct from other industries that are already using wood such as paper manufacturing meaning
there might be an abundant supply with very minimal impact to deforestation so how exactly
do these new batteries stack up to today's battery technology compared to other solid state polymers
the cellulose copper combination has performed better in research conditions than any previously
recorded polymer conductor the research team claims that their polymer ion conductivity is
anywhere from 10 to 100 times better than any other polymer ion conductor the researchers see
two potential applications for their technology it could function as a solid state electrolyte
as we've been discussing but it could also serve as an ion conducting binder for the cathode in all
solid state batteries typically to match the capacity of the anode the positively charged
electrode in the battery the cathode that's the negative electrode needs to be incredibly thick
the problem is the thicker it gets the more it can compromise conductivity thus lowering
efficiency for thicker cathodes to actually work they need to be encased in an ion conducting
binder this is where the new material could actually shine in their research the team has
already demonstrated what they report as one of the thickest new functional cathodes ever reported
while this new material isn't ready for the market quite yet the researchers hope to see
their product lead to more advancements in battery technology the hope is that this new conducting
material will lead to safer stronger and more reliable and sustainable batteries which will
help accommodate our growing energy storage need but what do you think are you excited about the
possibility of building solid-state batteries from trees and what other battery technology would you
like to see us cover in the future let us know in the comments below so that's a look at how this
radically cool new idea of grabbing cellulose and binding with ions for copper can actually possibly
lead to one day having solid state batteries all right but before we go quick moment let's
talk about the comments of the week all right the first one comes from damian dorey he says
if you do a video in 10 years you may have lost more hair i don't know if he's trying to say that
i might lose even more hair in 10 years i hope not i don't know that's possible but this is from
our video we did on our solar panels turning 10 years old in our old house check it out here and
the second comment comes from aj and this is from the gyro bus video which you can check out here
he says tesla should really start getting into this electric transportation business
i think he's being facetious but if he's not tesla yeah electric cars maybe look
into that might be a cool business model all right check out those videos here