article thumbnail

Argonne National Labs Ramping Up Lithium-Air Research and Development; Li-ion as EV Bridge Technology

Green Car Congress

Argonne National Laboratory, which has contributed heavily to the research and development of Li-ion battery technology, is now pursuing research into Lithium-air batteries. Li-air batteries use a catalytic air cathode that converts oxygen to lithium peroxide; an electrolyte; and a lithium anode.

Li-ion 281
article thumbnail

Researchers Develop Lithium-Water Electrochemical Cell for the Controlled Generation of H2 and Electricity

Green Car Congress

Schematic representation and operating principles of the lithiumwater electrochemical cell used for hydrogen generation: (1) external circuit and (2) inside of lithiumwater electrochemical cell. the high-school chemistry demonstration of the violent reaction between sodium and water.). Source: Wang et al.

Water 186
article thumbnail

NSF to award up to $13M for fundamental work on sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels

Green Car Congress

Photosynthetic processes used by plants or algae use sunlight to convert atmospheric CO 2 to energy-rich metabolites (carbohydrates, lipids, or hydrocarbons) which can be processed into transportation fuels. Solar photovoltaic (PV) devices harvest and convert sunlight directly to electricity. Photovoltaic Solar Energy.

article thumbnail

New nanolithia cathodes may address technical drawbacks of Li-air batteries; scalable, cheap and safer Li-air battery system

Green Car Congress

Conventional lithium-air batteries draw in oxygen from the outside air to drive a chemical reaction with the battery’s lithium during the discharging cycle, and this oxygen is then released again to the atmosphere during the reverse reaction in the charging cycle. —Zhu et al.

Cheap 150
article thumbnail

ARPA-E Selects 37 Projects for $106M in Funding in Second Round; Electrofuels, Better Batteries and Carbon Capture

Green Car Congress

Today’s technologies for making biofuels all rely on photosynthesis—either indirectly by converting plants to fuels or directly by harnessing photosynthetic organisms such as algae. This process is less than 1% efficient at converting sunlight to stored chemical energy. Water will be the primary byproduct. Engineering E.

Carbon 249
article thumbnail

Probing the effect of CO2 on Li-air batteries

Green Car Congress

Lithium-air batteries, with a theoretical gravimetric energy density of ?3500 air” battery technology usable at ambient conditions, it is critical to elucidate the effects of the other constituents of air (N 2 , Ar, H 2 O, and CO 2 ) on the operations of the Li?air air battery. —Lim et al. Batteries'

Li-ion 305
article thumbnail

Big Science tools for clean transportation: neutron scattering at ORNL

Green Car Congress

Just a few examples of transportation-related neutron-assisted research at ORNL include: Using neutron-computed tomography, researchers at the CG-1D neutron imaging instrument at HFIR successfully mapped the 3D spatial distribution of lithium products in electrochemically discharged lithium-air cathodes. Images of GDI injector.