Graphene batteries: Introduction and Market News - Page 37

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 2016.

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!

Dongxu Optoelectronic Technology recently unveiled a graphene battery in Beijing, called G-King. The report out of China does not reveal how close the G-King battery is to mass production. It might be close, considering the stage show the company pulled off - and if so, it may be the world's first graphene battery.

The demonstrated graphene battery has a capacity of 4,800mAh, which is a typical capacity of laptop battery. The company showed the G-King's super-fast charging time. It only takes 13 to 15 minutes compared to several hours a conventional Lithium-Ion battery needs. That's 10 to 20 times faster. Dongxu Optoelectronic Technology says that the G-King graphene battery supports 3,500 charge and discharge cycles - around 7 times higher than Li-Ion batteries.

Researchers from EPFL have reported the design of a tunable, graphene-based device that could significantly increase the speed and efficiency of wireless communication systems. Their system works at very high frequencies and is said to be delivering unprecedented results.

Current portable wireless systems usually come equipped with reconfigurable circuits that can adjust the antenna to transmit and receive data in the various frequency bands. Unfortunately, currently available technologies like MEMS and MOS that use silicon or metal do not work well at high frequencies - where data can travel much faster. For this end, the EPFL researchers have come up with a tunable graphene-based solution that enables circuits to operate at both low and high frequencies with unprecedented efficiency.

I recently had an interesting talk with XG Sciences' Sr. Director of Business Development, Dr. Percy Chinoy. Percy updated on XGS' technology and business. Among several other applications of graphene, XGS has been collaborating with battery developers and their supply chain partners for a few years.

XGS is involved in three battery-related applications: silicon-graphene electrodes, and graphene additives in Li-Ion battery and Lead-acid battery electrodes. As a supplier, XGS has to work with the product schedules of other companies - but XGS is positive that we will see these products being launched in 2017.

Researchers from AIST in Japan and Nanjing University in China have developed a metal-organic framework-based graphene oxide composite as a separator for Li-S batteries, that could help solve the polysulphide shuttling problem in these batteries. The composite acts as an ionic sieve that selectively separates out Li+ ions while stopping polysulphides migrating to the anode and reportedly helps reduce capacity decay rates down to just 0.019% per cycle over 1500 cycles.

MOFs are ordered solids made of inorganic sub-units connected by organic linkers. They have a large surface area and highly ordered pores, and their porosity can be tuned. According to the researchers, the MOF membrane in this work separates out polysulphides based on their size and shape; The team chose a copper MOF that possesses a 3D structure with micropores that have narrow accessible size windows of around 9 Å. This is smaller than the diameter of lithium polysulphides (that are between 4 and 8 Å in diameter) and so the pores effectively block the sulphides. The researchers found that the MOFs do not degrade even after 200 cycles of battery charge/discharge, and no polysulphides pass through the membrane for 48 hours.

LWP Technologies has raised $1.185 USD million ($1.8 AUD) to ramp up investment in graphene synthesis and aluminium-graphene battery technology. LWP reports that it had raised the cash through the placement of 320 million shares at 0.5c per share, with the offer finishing oversubscribed (LWP said that it didn’t accept the oversubscriptions, though, as it only needed the $1.6 million and wanted to avoid shareholder dilution).

LWP said it would use the funds to pump up its investment next gen batteries through its 50% in GraphenEra which is developing an aluminium-graphene battery. GraphenEra possesses the rights to lodged Patents on the Aluminium-Graphene Synthesis and battery technology that LWP now has options on developing.

SiNode Systems, based at Illinois Institute of Technology’s University Technology Park, develops materials that make batteries last longer and charge faster using graphene. The company has been granted a funding of $4 million from Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with the U.S. Department of Energy, to develop such improved batteries for the electric vehicle market.

Its technology, which commercializes a patented process developed at Northwestern University, can be used in any lithium-ion battery, such as those in cell phones or laptops. Our early focus is smaller markets, the company's CEO said. The electric vehicle market is our long-term focus, and it’s the reason we started this company.

XG Sciences has received a DOE Round 2 small business award for $150,000, which it will use to support its efforts to develop low-cost manufacturing of a silicon-graphene composite anode. According to the company, one goal for the new anode type is to reduce the formation of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI).

The SEI layer is a film composed of electrolyte reduction products that start forming on the surface of the anode during the initial battery charge. It functions as an ionic conductor that enables lithium to migrate through the film during charging and discharging allowing the battery to operate in an efficient and reversible manner. Under typical operating conditions, it also serves as an electronic insulator that prevents further electrolyte reduction on the anode. However, as the silicon in next-generation anodes expands and contracts, it essentially cracks apart that layer and then makes more. Over time it ends up with a very thick resistive film on the anode, which causes it to lose both capacity and power.

Grafoid has announced the formalization of a strategic green energy business alliance branded as the 2GL Platform. The collaborative agreement pioneers the unification of the development of materials, technologies and processes for next generation energy applications under a shared vision and direction.

This business alliance involves collaboration between Grafoid, Focus Graphite, Stria Lithium (a junior mining exploration company with an expanding technology focus in lithium metal and foil) and Braille Battery (a leading manufacturer and seller of ultra-lightweight high performance AGM and lithium-ion batteries).

CealTech aims to become a leading global producer of high volume, high quality graphene, ultra-fine graphite and fine graphite. Production will be done by CealTech's independently-developed FORZA 3D graphene production unit (patent pending).

The FORZA prototype unit is currently under development and should be ready for operation by October 2016. CealTech's daily single layer graphene production capabilities starting October 2016 will be 1600m², and are planned to grow to 150,000 m² starting 2020.