Solid Oxygen Opens New Doors in Lithium-Air Batteries

Aug-19-16 By equipping cells with their own supply of solid oxygen, researchers may have opened the door more efficient lithium-air batteries.

Lithium-air batteries rely on oxygen to drive an electrochemical reaction in the battery’s electrodes, but the reaction that transforms the oxygen from a gas to a solid is time-consuming and demands large changes in volume, which can damage the battery’s components.

As an alternative, the new technology would avoid the oxygen phase-change altogether by containing the oxygen in solid form inside the battery itself. The cell would contain nanoparticles of a glass called nanolithia, which is made up of three different lithium oxides. The nanolithia is stabilized in a cobalt oxide matrix that functions as the battery’s electrolyte. Since the oxygen is always in a solid state, with no air entering the battery, the battery system does not require the water vapor and CO2 to be scrubbed away, and the battery cannot be overcharged.

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