Lithium News

Hybrid perovskites are materials made from metal halide frameworks interspersed with organic cations. They have attracted a lot of interest in the field of solar energy because of their light-harvesting capacity combined with a low cost of manufacturing, making perovskite solar cells (PSCs) prime candidates for replacing current silicon-based devices. Perovskites also show great potential in a range of applications that include LED lights, lasers, and photodetectors.

One of the obstacles on the way to commercializing perovskite solar cells is their operational stability, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to photovoltaic technologies already on the market. This is especially a problem with mixed-halide perovskites, which are ideal materials for tandem solar cells and emission-tunable LEDs because they combine high compositional flexibility with optoelectronic performance.

Mixed-halide perovskites also feature wide bandgaps, a property that affects the energy needed for a photovoltaic material to generate electricity. But in most mixed-halide perovskites, light can cause a phenomenon called halide phase segregation, where the ingredients “de-mix” into regions of differing halide content. This segregation can lead to significant efficiency problems during the operational lifespan of a solar cell. Solving it is, therefore, critical for the success of perovskite technology, especially for solar cells with a so-called tandem configuration, where mixed-halide, wide bandgap perovskites are commonly employed in combination with a second low bandgap perovskite or a silicon cell.

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences have now developed a method that improves both, power conversion efficiency and stability, of solar cells based on pure iodide as well as mixed-halide perovskites, while also suppressing halide phase segregation in the latter. The paper is published in Joule, and the research was carried out by the groups of Professors Michael Grätzel and Ursula Rothlisberger at EPFL and led by Dr. Essa A. Alharbi and Dr. Lukas Pfeifer.

The method treats PSCs with two alkylammonium halide modulators that work synergistically to improve solar cell performance. The modulators were used as passivators, compounds used to mitigate defects in perovskites, which are otherwise promoting the aforementioned degradation pathways.

In this study, the researchers were able to use the two modulators to stop halide segregation and thereby substantially reduce the drops in power-conversion efficiency seen in long-term use of PSCs.

The new approach resulted in power-conversion efficiencies of 24.9% for one perovskite composition (α-FAPbI3) and 21.2% for the other (FA65MA35Pb(I65Br35)3). About 90% and 80% of the initial efficiencies were retained after 1200 and 250 hours of continuous operation, respectively. The authors write, “By addressing the critical issue of stability, our results represent an important step towards large scale practical applications of PSCs.”

A new study, published on Dec. 21 in Energy Material Advances, provides a strategy to enhance dynamic phase stability and suppress Mn dissolution at the mesoscopic scale, promoting the development of high-performance spinel LiMn2O4 (LMO) electrodes. “The development of electric vehicles and electric bicycles has sparked interest in powered lithium-ion batteries,” said paper author Jia Xie, professor at school of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). “It is critical to developing advanced electrode materials with excellent rate performance, cycling stability and high-energy densities.” Xie explained that LMO is deemed as a promising cathode material in power lithium-ion batteries, owing to its low cost, reliable security, high operating voltage and fast 3D lithium-ion transport channels. But the cycling stability of LMO limits its large-scale application. According to Xie, the challenges are the irreversible phase transition and Mn dissolution. The irreversible phase transition from spinel-structured LiMn2O4 to defect spinel-structured λ-MnO2, LiMn3O4 or even rock-salt-structured MnO occurs during repeated cycling. Continuous accumulation of irreversible phase transitions leads to crack generation in LMO particles. The newly exposed surface created by cracks of LMO particles can interact with the electrolyte and thus promote the dissolution of Mn from LMO, resulting in an over-lithiated LMO surface, which in turn accelerates irreversible phase transition and particle cracks. All of these contribute to the deterioration of LMO particles and fast performance decay, especially under fast charging conditions. According to Xie, advanced strategies including element doping, surface modification and morphological regulation have been proposed to alleviate the degradation of LMO particles. For instance, metal elements (Mg, Ni) and non-metal elements (B, P) are employed as doping elements to replace trace amounts of Mn, forming stable chemical bonds among doping elements and O. Robust chemical bonds keep LMO in a stable structure, resulting in better electrochemical performance than the pristine LMO. Al2O3, TiO2, ZrO2 and Li3PO4 and other compounds are used as coating layers to cover the LMO surface. The coating layer is equivalent to an artificial CEI, which reduces the direct contact between LMO and the electrolyte, thereby suppressing the dissolution of Mn and volume change. In addition, regulating the morphology of LMO, such as nanostructured materials and truncated octahedral crystal structure design, is also an effective means to improve the performance. These strategies focus mainly on the modification of LMO material itself. “This paper mitigates the degradation of LMO from the perspective of electrode structure design, and thus improves the cycling stability of LMO,” Xie said. “The ice-templating method was adopted to construct low-tortuosity LMO electrode based on the CMC binder. The [resulting] electrodes have straight channels through the electrode in the cross section.” “The low-tortuosity structure enables LMO electrodes’ fast lithium-ion diffusion and small concentration polarization, leading to uniform electrochemical reaction within micro-regions of the electrodes. Furthermore, the fast lithium-ion transport kinetics and even mesoscopic-scale reactions of low-tortuosity LMO electrode effectively alleviate irreversible phase transition and Mn dissolution as well as suppress cracks generation in LMO particles,” Xie said. “The fast ion transport kinetic behavior and stable phase structure give the low tortuosity LMO electrode excellent rate performance and cycling stability, which makes it a more competitive cathode,” Xie said. “Low tortuosity electrode structure design provides a new way to develop high-performance LMO batteries.”

Anew type of low-cost battery could help solve the renewable energy storage problem, giving us a better way to bank solar and wind energy for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

The challenge: A whopping 30% of global CO2 emissions are produced by coal-fired power plants, and decarbonizing the electric grid is a vital part of combating climate change.

We can speed the transition to a clean electric grid by storing excess energy in batteries, but lithium-ion ones are expensive.

Solar and wind power have become dramatically cheaper over the past couple of decades. However, these sources still depend on environmental conditions — without wind, turbines can’t spin, and if the sun isn’t shining, solar panels (usually) can’t harvest energy.

That makes these sources less consistent than fossil fuels, which can be dispatched on demand, and so even while solar and wind continue to grow, utilities continue to rely on gas to fill gaps and keep the electric grid stable.

Energy storage: We can speed the transition to renewable power by storing excess energy in batteries and then deploying it when the sun and wind aren’t cooperating with demand. Many newer renewable energy plants are being paired with big banks of lithium-ion batteries, but lithium is expensive, and mining it is bad for the environment in other ways.

Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries are a promising alternative for renewable energy storage. They rely on chemical reactions between a sulfur cathode and a sodium anode to store and deploy electrical energy, and they use low-cost materials, which can even be easily extracted from saltwater.

“Storage solutions that are manufactured using plentiful resources like sodium … have the potential to guarantee greater energy security more broadly and allow more countries to join the shift towards decarbonisation,” said Shenlong Zhao, an energy storage researcher at the University of Sydney.

What’s new? Existing RT Na-S batteries have had limited storage capacity and a short life cycle, which has held back their commercialization, but there’s now a new kind of RT Na-S battery, developed by Zhao’s team.

According to their paper, the device has four times the storage capacity of a lithium-ion battery and an ultra-long life — after 1,000 cycles, it still retained about half of its capacity, which the researchers claim is “unprecedented.”

This leap was possible thanks to the incorporation of carbon-based electrodes and the use of a process called “pyrolysis” to improve the reactivity of the sulfur and the reactions between the sulfur and sodium.

“This is a significant breakthrough for renewable energy development which, although reduces costs in the long term, has had several financial barriers to entry,” said Zhao.

The big picture: So far, the Sydney researchers have only created and tested lab-scale versions of their RT Na-S battery. They now plan to focus on scaling up and commercializing the tech, which will likely take several years.

There are many other alternatives to lithium-ion batteries that can be used for renewable energy storage today, though, including long-living flow batteries, massive water batteries, and batteries that store electricity as heat in bricks, sand, and other solid materials.

The sooner we scale up our use of renewables and deploy more of these batteries — and innovative newcomers, like the University of Sydney’s creation — the better our chances of avoiding the worst possible effects of climate change.

West Virginia officials excitedly announced a major green energy manufacturer last week, but there are still financial aspects of the project to pin down.

In all, the Form Energy battery plant proposed for Hancock County is meant to result in 750 jobs and is a $760 million project.

“We appreciate West Virginia’s pro-business landscape, streamlined processes and commitment to workforce development,” said Mateo Jaramillo, co-founder of Form Energy, which went through a year-long site selection process that started with identifying more than 500 possible locations among 16 states.

Although those factors likely played a significant role, there were also major financial incentives.

Gov. Jim Justice alluded to them in his announcement of the big battery manufacturer.

“We structured a unique financial incentive package worth up to $290 million in asset-based, performance financing to support their decision to locate in Weirton,” Justice stated.

Form Energy, which develops long-storage batteries, is backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which includes celebrity investors like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.

While West Virginia officials and job-seekers celebrate the project’s announcement, its financial structure is under scrutiny from institutions ranging from the conservative Wall Street Journal’s editorial board to the progressive West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy think tank.

“For far too long, we’ve handed out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in economic incentives with little transparency or accountability like analyzing whether these deals bring the economic benefits and jobs they promise,” said Kelly Allen, executive director of the center on budget and policy.

She cited research showing incentives rarely produce the economic incentives they promise.

“Instead they create a race to the bottom among the states who ‘compete’ for the corporation, often at the cost of that money going toward public investments that benefit all residents and businesses,” Allen said.

“When lawmakers are asked to approve additional economic incentives or tax subsidies for Form Energy, they should require those funds come with robust reporting, strong accountability provisions, and local hiring commitments.”

The public component of the project’s financing started becoming apparent last week with a 6-2 vote by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, which passed a resolution authorizing up to $75 million in incentives for the “high impact development project.”

A statement from the Justice administration provided some more detail about what that entails. The statement said the money will be used to purchase land and construct buildings in Weirton, where the new project is meant to take shape on 55 acres of the former Weirton Steel site. With that, the governor said, the funds will be “guaranteed, secured and collateralized.”

There is still more public support.

The governor’s statement indicated an additional $215 million will come from state and federal sources.

“I plan on working with the West Virginia Legislature and our federal partners to obtain an additional $215 million needed to finalize our agreement,” Governor Justice stated.

Entering the holiday weekend, it wasn’t immediately clear what the legislative role would be, how much more state money would be involved or what form any legislation might need to take. The regular legislative session is just a couple of weeks ahead, starting Jan. 11.

The federal component also wasn’t immediately clear, but signs point toward recently-passed federal incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act backed by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee. The act includes $369 billion for energy security and climate change programs over ten years.

Consumers and businesses will be able to access benefits from the act starting Jan. 1. The U.S. Department of Treasury has been working to provide more information about tax provisions of the act by the end of the current year.

Also possible are related incentives for development in coalfield communities.

National coverage of the project announcement by the business-focused Bloomberg drew that link, saying the project aimed at Hancock County is “the latest plant announced in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law.”

Form Energy says its first commercial product, an iron air battery, is capable of storing electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with legacy power plants.

The company’s battery technology operates through a “reversible rusting” process. The battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. When the battery charges, the reverse happens. An electrical current converts the rust back to iron, and the battery breathes out oxygen.

Bloomberg wrote: “After years of depending on foreign imports for its clean-energy supplies, the US is on the verge of a revival in domestic cleantech manufacturing. A key product: energy storage for the country’s grids and electric vehicles. The support of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin was critical to the passage of the climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.”

The Wall Street Journal also made the connection, but with a more critical take.

A staff editorial headlined “The Subsidy Tango of Bill Gates and Joe Manchin” suggested the two are emerging as the biggest winners from the Inflation Reduction Act. The editorial board wrote of Manchin: “And here we thought he traded his vote for permitting reform, which still hasn’t passed. Turns out he sold it for corporate welfare for his state. Your tax dollars for Bill Gates at work.”

Manchin, in an official statement, praised Form Energy’s decision to locate in West Virginia. Without specifying how the Inflation Reduction Act might affect incentives, Manchin referred to its role.

“West Virginia continues to be a leader in energy innovation, and the good-paying jobs and new economic opportunities this will bring are exactly what I had in mind as I negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act,” Manchin stated.

“I have said it time and again: The path forward is innovation, not elimination, and with this announcement West Virginia and Form Energy are doing just that.”

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also praised the company’s decision to locate in West Virginia. Her office played a significant role behind the scenes in working with Form Energy’s developers.

“If West Virginia is going to continue to be an energy state, we must embrace new technologies, but also tell our story on a national and global level,” Capito stated.

“I look forward to working with the visionary leadership of Form Energy as they ramp up their production in West Virginia, and look forward to more positive developments for our home state in the future.”

Form Energy’s chief executive, Jaramillo, spoke last week at the West Virginia Culture Center, describing how the company chose West Virginia for its cutting-edge battery plant.

“At the beginning of this year, we initiated a robust site selection process to determine the location of our first, full-scale battery manufacturing facility in the United States,” he said as the governor observed from alongside.

“It became abundantly clear that Weirton, West Virginia, a historic steel community that sits on a river and has the rich heritage, raw infrastructure and knowhow to make great things out of iron would be the ideal location for our first commercial battery production facility, Form Factory 1.”

Form Energy expects to start construction of its Weirton factory in 2023 and begin manufacturing iron-air battery systems in 2024 for broad commercialization.

Hancock County’s largest city is Weirton, long the headquarters of Weirton Steel, which was one of the world’s largest producers of tin plate products and a major West Virginia employer. Production there required more than 10,000 workers at the steel plant’s peak.

Now, if all goes to plan, the site will be transformed for a new era.

“If Weirton’s past tells us anything about its future, it is that the people there will make this an incredibly successful endeavor,” said state Senator Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, who grew up in Weirton and now represents the area.

Progress towards Australia’s new emissions target of a 43% reduction by 2030 (from 2005 levels) has been decidedly mixed. Emissions in the electricity sector have fallen in recent years, but the upward trend in another major sector, transport, is set to continue. There is a widespread view, implicitly encouraged in some states, that transport emissions can simply be reduced by more use of electric vehicles powered from renewable energy sources. On the contrary, reducing overall transport emissions will require policy reform and infrastructure investment on many fronts. Recent decades, though, have been marked by a lack of action. The 2022 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard shows how far Australia has fallen behind. Overall, Australia ranked 18th out of 25 of the world’s largest energy users, and 23rd for transport. On five of the nine criteria for assessing transport, Australia scored zero points. These were: no 2025 fuel economy standards; poor on light vehicle average fuel economy; low electric vehicle sales share; no heavy vehicle fuel economy standard; and no smart freight programs. The federal government has acknowledged effective vehicle fuel-efficiency standards are long overdue. And, as the source of 45% of all pre-COVID transport emissions, reducing emissions from cars is important—but it’s only part of the solution. It will take years for more efficient cars and electric vehicles to replace the current less energy-efficient ones. Recent experience also suggests more than high petrol prices will be needed to reduce vehicle travel and emissions. What more can be done? Reducing transport emissions was the subject of reports produced by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) up to 2009. Proposals included “no regrets” measures such as more freight on rail, while effective road pricing reform (to strengthen the connection between costs to drivers and travel times and distance) was judged to “offer the largest potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport”. Only a few measures were implemented, such as energy labeling of cars and 50km/h urban speed limits. As a result, BITRE data show overall transport emissions (excluding electric rail) increased some 19% from 2005 to 2019 (before temporary COVID-related reductions). There were increases of 16% from cars, 16% from articulated trucks and 50% from domestic aviation. To turn this around, the federal government has set up a Net Zero Unit. The minister responsible for transport, Catherine King, acknowledged: “Achieving our government’s emissions reduction targets on the path to net zero by 2050 will require concerted action to drive emissions lower across the transport sector.” In a recent consultation paper for the forthcoming National Electric Vehicle Strategy, the ministers’ foreword noted: “Today, Australians are being sold some of the highest-emitting cars in the world. On average, new passenger vehicles in Australia have around 20% higher emissions than the United States, and around 40% higher emissions than in Europe. We need to catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to transport emissions.” What’s being done overseas? Measures that have worked overseas include better public transport (which was effective during the 2010s in Australia) and congestion pricing (charging drivers for travel at peak traffic times) in major cities. A further measure, recommended 20 years ago by state transport ministers, was to move from high annual registration fees to higher fuel excise. This would mean people who drive their cars less are not subsidizing those who drive their cars more. New Zealand has adopted this approach. New Zealand has also adopted an Emissions Reduction Plan that includes “a focus on reducing reliance on cars and delivering considerable change in walking, cycling and public transport. The transport actions set a target to reduce vehicle kilometers traveled by the light vehicle fleet by 20%, by 2035.” This ambitious target is complemented by other measures, including land-use planning to reduce the distances people need to travel to get to work, services and amenities. Britain and Europe have introduced similar strong measures. Shifting freight to rail and sea As has often been said, “without trucks, Australia stops”. However, the convenience of moving freight by trucks, which has been boosted over the past three decades by a much-improved road system and larger and heavier trucks, comes with many costs. One cost is the impact of more trucks on the roads. A further cost is higher emissions. Trucks use three times the energy and so produce three times the emissions of a given freight task done by rail or sea. I have calculated that if rail were to regain a 50% share of the freight on the Sydney-Melbourne route alone, it would cut emissions by over 300,000 tons a year. This is the equivalent of taking about 100,000 cars off the road. Keeping aviation emissions in check Although domestic flights were producing just 9% of all pre-COVID transport emissions in Australia, a 50% increase in aviation emissions from 2005 to 2019 demands government action to limit further growth. This will be a challenge given Australians’ reliance on flying between capital cities and to regional centers. Other countries such as France are limiting short-haul air travel where rail is an alternative. Globally, as the International Energy Agency has noted: “Rail transport is the most energy-efficient and least carbon-intensive way to move people and second only to shipping for carrying goods.” One corridor where an improved train service competes with regional aviation is Bundaberg to Brisbane. On many other corridors, such as Canberra to Sydney, more frequent and faster trains would be well received and would reduce emissions. In the longer term, a dedicated high-speed rail service—electric trains moving at over 250km per hour—will be needed between Melbourne and Sydney. In the medium term, track upgrades and tilt trains offer scope to cut the travel time from 11 to about six hours within four years. Australia needs to act with urgency on all fronts—cars, freight and aviation—to get transport emissions on track for net zero.