Graphene batteries: Introduction and Market News - Page 32

Zenyatta Ventures, a Canadian graphite explorer, has formed a wholly owned European subsidiary company named ZEN-tech Materials to focus on the development and commercialization activities of graphene applications and the allocation of any associated intellectual property and worldwide licensing.

Zenyatta stated that the formation of ZEN-tech is a strategic move that will provide it with a way to capture value and advance graphene application development separate from the mineral development business. Zenyatta will continue to focus on advancing the Albany graphite deposit towards production and will supply highly crystalline, purified graphite to ZEN-tech, academics and end users.

Today we published a new version of all our graphene market reports. Graphene-Info provides comprehensive niche graphene market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about these niche markets. The reports are now updated to July 2017.

The Graphene Batteries Market Report:

• The advantages using graphene batteries
• The different ways graphene can be used in batteries
• Various types of graphene materials
• What's on the market today
• Detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode material
• Personal contact details into most graphene developers

The report package provides a good introduction to the graphene battery - present and future. It includes a list of all graphene companies involved with batteries and gives detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode materials and contact details into most graphene developers. Read more here!

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory and Oregon State University in the U.S have designed a novel cathode architecture for lithium-sulphide batteries that consists of crystalline di-lithium sulphide nanoparticles encapsulated in few-layer graphene. The design is said to allow the maximum amount of active sulphur species to be incorporated into the electrode and so greatly improves its electrical conductivity. It also overcomes many of the major challenges associated with existing sulphur electrodes and di-lithium composites.

The Li₂S-graphene nanocapsules architecture can boast superior electrochemical properties. The electrodes have a high reversible capacity of 1160 mAh/g and area capacity of 8.1 mAh/cm2. The team synthesized the Li₂S@graphene nanocomposites in a one-step reaction in which they reacted lithium metal foils with CS₂ vapour carried by argon gas at 650°C. Li₂S nanocrystals and the tight wrapper of few-layer graphene are spontaneously generated, thus forming the nanocapsules. The Li₂ nanoparticles are between 50 and 80 nm in size and are uniformly and seamlessly encapsulated in about 1020 graphene layers. This significantly reduces the charge-transfer resistance between the two materials and greatly improves the electric conductivity of Li2.

Researchers at Swinburne University are progressing towards producing commercially viable, chemical-free, long-lasting, safe energy devices. The team is developing the Bolt Electricity Storage Technology (BEST) a graphene oxide-based supercapacitor offering high performance and low-cost energy storage.

The team explains that this technology is environmentally friendly, and a patent was recently filed on it. It is reportedly on the brink of becoming a commercial prototype. Also stated was that investment in the technology's development will soon be under way through Graphene Solutions, a joint venture between graphite miner First Graphite Resources (FGR) and Australia-based electronics company Kremford.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced a program for a scaled-up production method of its graphite to graphene oxide for applications like water treatment, sensors, supercapacitors and Li‐ion batteries. The program is receiving grant funding from the Ontario Centres for Excellence (OCE) to allow a team of scientists at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada to carry out this research.

The OCE funding helps established Ontario‐based companies develop, implement and commercialize technical innovations by supporting partnerships with publicly‐funded post‐secondary institutions. The focus of the research work will be on scaling up production methods for Zenyatta’s graphite to GO, a first critical step towards commercialization of the technology. The OCE VIP II $100,000 grant will be administered over two years and Zenyatta will be contributing $50,000 in cash and $60,000 in‐kind support to the project.

Henrik Fisker, initiator of a project to start an electric car company relying on a long-range battery that uses graphene, recently stated that the company's upcoming electric luxury sedan will use lithium-ion batteries to power the car rather than the graphene battery technology currently under development for future models.

EMotion is slated to officially debut on August 17, 2017 with a tentative release in 2019. Pricing starts at $129,900, placing it in the same range as Tesla Model S. It will be interesting to see at what point, if at all, graphene-based batteries will be used in these cars.

Talga Resources has provided an update on initial benchmark testing of its graphene in Lithium-ion batteries, manufactured at the Warwick Manufacturing Group’s Energy Innovation Center, University of Warwick UK.

Following successful tests of the Company’s micrographite product, Talga announced its intention to move towards testing its graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) as the active material of Li-ion battery anodes. Preliminary test results are highly encouraging with Talga's material exhibiting outstanding electrochemical performance that reportedly surpasses capacity measures for commercially available graphite anodes, delivering up to ~27% more energy density. The tests also showed low capacity losses (reversible capacity >99.5%) and high stability (coulombic efficiency 99.9%). Talga also reports that the results were achieved using its bulk graphene nanoplatelets, rather than few layered graphene materials (FLG), which raises potential to compete at today’s anode market cost structure.

Researchers at Rice University have created a rechargeable Li-ion battery, based on a hybrid of graphene and carbon nanotubes, with three times the capacity of commercial lithium-ion batteries. This was achieved mainly by addressing a major challenge known as the dendrite problem.

The Rice battery stores lithium in a unique anode made of a seamless hybrid of graphene and carbon nanotubes. The material (first created at Rice in 2012) is basically a 3D carbon surface that provides abundant area for lithium to occupy. The anode itself is said to approach the theoretical maximum for storage of lithium metal with its 3,351 milliamp hours per gram capacity, while resisting the formation of damaging dendrites or "mossy" deposits.

Researchers from Egypt and the United States have reportedly created ultrathin, biocompatible supercapacitors that can be used as efficient and long-lasting power sources for implantable devices such as pacemakers, brain stimulators and more.

The scientists made the supercapacitors using graphene, a muscle protein and biofluids as electrolytes. The team reports that such supercapacitors can power pacemakers for a long time by utilizing protein and biofluids available in the body, reducing the need to perform surgery to replace drained power sources.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced the successful testing of its graphene oxide material by a U.S. based advanced materials company developing silicon-graphene anodes for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries.

Zenyatta stated that preliminary results showed the ease of processing with its graphene oxide and similar electrochemical performance compared to the control material that is currently being used by the U.S. company. Zenyatta's high-purity graphite was recently converted to graphene oxide and then sent to the U.S. collaborator for testing as an advanced nano-material in a new Lithium-ion battery.