Self-Healing Batteries

Nov-20-13 A self-healing, conductive coating for electrodes could help to increase the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries by repairing the tiny cracks that develop during normal operations.

Created by a team from Stanford University, the coating is made of a stretchy polymer originally developed for use in robotic skin. The researchers added carbon nanoparticles to the material to make it electrically conductive, and then used the material to coat silicon electrodes (which swell and shrink up to three times their normal size during charging and discharging). This change in size causes the brittle silicon to eventually crack and fall apart, but the polymer held the coated silicon electrodes together up to ten times longer than those that were left uncoated.

The team believes the polymer could also be used with electrodes made of materials other than silicon.

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[GIZMAG.COM]
[STANFORD UNIVERSITY]

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