Issue 18
Week 29 April - 5 May 2019
Welcome to the new edition of our Last Week In Batteries digest!
This weekly digest of developments in the battery space is intended as a demonstration of what one can do with Avogadro One. Avogadro One allows capturing relevant news easily and quickly, saving you valuable time. If you want to know when you can use Avogadro One for your own research, please sign up to our mailing list here. We would also be happy to hear any feedback.
This is a very basic review of last week's events relevant to the battery and fuel cell industries. We do not pretend to be experts in this space but as investors we find such an overview helpful. The digest is intentionally very brief and dry and is intended as a demonstration rather as an end product. We'd love to hear what tools/software/platforms you use to stay abreast of the events in your industries of interest: please answer our anonymous questionnaire.
Overview of the global Li-ion battery supply chain
TechXplore has published an overview of the Li-ion battery industry. Asian, and especially Chinese, manufacturers dominate both the manufacturing of batteries and the supply of raw materials, while Europe is trying to catch up on the manufacturing side.
Impact areas: Li-ion battery supply chain
Source: https://techxplore.com/news/2019-05-asia-electric-car-battery-production.html
EU wants to control its battery supply chain
France and Germany have announced a EU battery-making alliance that will receive "five to six billion euros" in investments. A pilot factory will open later this year.
Impact areas: Li-ion battery supply chain
Source: https://techxplore.com/news/2019-05-european-alliance-invest-bn-euros.html
Proton-electron energy model for solid surfaces
MIT scientists have developed a new technique to study the energy associated with proton-electron interactions on solid surfaces based on an approach used in molecular chemistry. The new method provides a path towards designing electrodes, electrolytes and catalysts with specific properties for optimum performance in a given application.
Impact areas: Battery & fuel cell research and performance
Source: http://news.mit.edu/2019/thermodynamic-electron-proton-reactions-predict-0502
Heterostructure in micro-supercapacitors
Repeat that quickly three times!
Researchers from Tezpur University have published a paper where they describe the performance of a two-dimensional heterostructure in micro-supercapacitors.
Impact areas: Micro-supercapacitors
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.00202
Study of optimal household battery sizing
Researchers from Kingston University London, Iberdrola Innovation Middle East and Hamad Bin Khalifa University have published a study of the factors that determine the optimal battery size for distributed (household) energy storage.
Impact areas: Battery supply chains, Distributed storage systems, Utility energy storage
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.00097
Stereodefined N and S atom-codoped graphdiyne
That's another mouthful... ?
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have managed to create "stereodefined" N and S atoms codoped graphdiyne which showed high catalytic activity in oxygen evolution reaction (OER). OER is an important process in metal-air batteries and water splitting.
Impact areas: Metal-air battery performance
Source: http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/201904/t20190430_209006.shtml
Modelling of lithium intercalated graphite
Researchers from Technische Universitat Munchen have developed "a simulation framework for the purpose of better understanding lithium intercalated graphite and its behaviour during use in a battery."
Impact areas: Li-ion battery research
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.13351
Study of 2D honeycomb borophene oxide as an anode material
Materials scientists from several Chinese and Singapore universities report that honeycomb borophene oxide is "an almost ideal anode material" whose "Li storage capacity is more than six times higher than graphite."
Impact areas: Li-ion and Na-ion battery performance
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.13084
Study of grain's effect on lithium batteries
A team of researchers from Czech, Finnish and US universities report their findings about the impact of grain boundaries in LiFePO4 battery cathodes.
Impact areas: Lithium battery performance and durability
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12212
Graphene aerogel for Li-sulfur battery catholyte
Scientists from Chalmers University of Technology have come up with a way to make Li-sulfur batteries viable by using graphene aerogel as a sponge for the sulfur catholyte. According to the researchers, Li-sulfur batteries have 5x the theoretical energy density of Li-ion batteries, and their new battery overcomes the issue of low cycle life in Li-sulfur batteries, retaining 85% of capacity after 350 cycles.
Impact areas: Li-sulfur battery performance and durability
Bosch will focus on fuel cells
Bosch intends to produce hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles, planning to begin commercialization "in 2022 at the latest."
Impact areas: Fuel cell value chain
Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-germany-bosch-powers-hydrogen-cells.html
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