Intelligent rechargeable batteries or double the lifetime of mobile phones

According to foreign media sources, Northwestern University research team has developed a new material that can be used to manufacture stable large capacity lithium-ion batteries, thus greatly improving the durability of smartphones, electric vehicles and so on, even more than twice the current time.
Lithium-ion batteries are the representative of modern high-performance batteries, which are widely used. They mainly rely on the movement of lithium ions between positive and negative electrodes. Nowadays, the increasing demand for energy density in consumer electronics and power batteries is driving the progress of cathode materials. Usually, lithium, oxygen and a transition metal compound are used as the cathode of batteries. Among them, transition metals are responsible for storing and releasing electric energy, and their properties are also the key to the capacity of batteries.
The most commonly used transition metal at this stage is cobalt. Previous scientists have found that replacing cobalt with magnesium can increase capacity and reduce costs, but magnesium also has some defects - the performance of batteries deteriorates too fast, and only after two rounds of charging and discharging, there is a significant decline.
According to the official website of Northwestern University, the new material developed by the team is lithium magnesium oxide doped with chromium and vanadium, which is used as the cathode of lithium ion batteries. The capacity of the batteries has been greatly improved, and it has the advantages of stable performance and no rapid degradation.
The Northwest University team first developed a structural model for lithium magnesium oxide materials. The model details a single atom, and the team analyzed all the charging and discharging processes and found that oxygen was also involved in the storage of electrical energy, so the capacity was larger than before.
Subsequently, the researchers attempted to incorporate different elements into lithium magnesium oxides in order to calculate the energy storage effects of different mixtures. Eventually, they found that adding chromium and vanadium could achieve the most stable performance while maintaining the large capacity of the battery.
Researchers on smart rechargeable batteries say they will next test the performance of the new material in the laboratory.