The success or failure of electric cars may depend on better batteries, spurring pursuit of new technologies like lithium-air. Image: Claus Ableiter via WikiMedia Commons
The unassuming associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Missouri S&T is one of the few researchers in the nation working on a potential breakthrough in green energy. His research holds promise for turning a decade-old idea of lithium-air technology into the ultimate battery for future electric vehicles.
Xing received a $1.2 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which was created through stimulus funding for the purpose of supporting potential game-changers in clean energy. ARPA-E's funds go to high-risk research projects -- but these are the types of projects that hold the greatest opportunity for high payoffs.
As recently reported in a story carried by The New York Times, Scientific American and other media outlets, Xing's project "went up against 220 other battery proposals, including plans from Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and companies with deep roots in government labs. Yet his idea made the final cut of 10 projects."
Xing is understandably reluctant to talk much about his research. But it has to do with figuring out how to overcome "the major scientific challenges that keep lithium-air from practicality."
As The New York Times explains: "Xing and his team are working on two aspects. The first is using nanotechnology to make a porous sheet that 'breathes' oxygen more efficiently. The other challenge is finding a material that binds oxygen just as easily as it lets oxygen go; otherwise, the battery's not rechargeable, and it's useless for electric cars."
Most batteries are self-contained units. They hold materials whose chemical relationship essentially kicks electrically charged particles called ions from one side of the battery to the other. When ions get punted one way, the battery generates electricity; when they go the other direction, the battery stores energy.Lithium-air batteries work similarly, but they aren't self-contained units. One of the "kickers" is actually a doorway to the outside world. It's a porous sheet whose only job is to let oxygen in, because that drives the chemical reactions that keep the kicking game going. This sheet takes up a lot less space than the solid material needed in other batteries, like iron, cobalt or manganese. Voila: The battery holds just as much energy, but would take up a fifth of the space of lithium-ion batteries used in today's electric vehicles.
That sounds basic, but no one has found the right recipe yet. Indeed, scientists are still working out the basics.
It may take 10 or 20 years before Xing's research bears fruit as a commercial product. But in the meantime, we can take pride in citing just one more example of how S&T's researchers are working to discover groundbreaking technology today.
Ultimate Battery?