Next-gen battery utilizes tin nanoparticles for better charging and longevity

Batteries are somewhat of a bottleneck for many modern devices and machines including laptops, smartphones and electric cars. Faster charging speeds and better longevity are two important factors that need improvement. Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology and the Korea Institute of Energy Research recently presented a new composite anode which might be able to mitigate these issues.

Instead of graphite, the South Korean scientists utilize tin nanoparticles embedded in hard carbon as material for the anode. These carbon-encased tin nanoparticles are produced with a sol-gel process and a chemical conversion (reduction) through heating. This chemical production process creates uniformly distributed tin nanoparticles within a resistant hard carbon matrix.

The journal ACS Nano further reports that these modifications have improved the structural stability and lowered the volume expansion compared to regular graphite anodes. This results in higher energy density of these battery cells, which is accompanied by optimized electrochemical kinetics. Simply put, these new batteries can be charged faster and are more durable.

Lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries benefit from tin nanoparticles

When an electrode with tin nanoparticles in hard carbon is used in lithium-ion batteries, the battery lasts more than 1,500 cycles with 20-minute fast charging. Moreover, the energy density is 1.5 times higher than that of batteries with a regular graphite anode. The new battery technology also shows good stability and better kinetics when used in sodium-ion cells.