Lithium News

For years, the Stanford Biomechatronics Laboratory has captured imaginations with their exoskeleton emulators—lab-based robotic devices that help wearers walk and run faster, with less effort. Now, these researchers will turn heads out in the “wild” with their first untethered exoskeleton, featured in a paper published Oct. 12 in Nature.

“This exoskeleton personalizes assistance as people walk normally through the real world,” said Steve Collins, associate professor of mechanical engineering who leads the Stanford Biomechatronics Laboratory. “And it resulted in exceptional improvements in walking speed and energy economy.”

This “robotic boot” has a motor that works with calf muscles to give the wearer an extra push with every step. But, unlike other exoskeletons out there, this push is personalized thanks to a machine-learning-based model that was trained through years of work using emulators.

“On a treadmill, our device provides twice the energy savings of previous exoskeletons,” said Patrick Slade, who worked on the exoskeleton as a Ph.D. student and a Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford. “In the real world, this translates to significant energy savings and walking speed improvements.”

The ultimate aim is to help people with mobility impairments, particularly older people, move throughout the world as they like. With this latest breakthrough, the research team believes the technology is ready for commercialization in the coming few years.

“The first time you put an exoskeleton on can be a bit of an adjustment,” said Ava Lakmazaheri, a graduate student in the Biomechatronics Laboratory who wore the exoskeleton in tests. “But, honestly, within the first 15 minutes of walking, it starts to feel quite natural. Walking with the exoskeletons quite literally feels like you have an extra spring in your step. It just really makes that next step so much easier.”

Exoskeletons for the real world

The major barrier for an effective exoskeleton in the past was individualization. “Most exoskeletons are designed using a combination of intuition or biomimicry, but people are too complicated and diverse for that to work well,” Collins explained.

To address that problem, this group relied on their exoskeleton emulators—large, immobile, expensive lab setups that can rapidly test how best to assist people and discover the blueprints for effective portable devices to use outside the lab. With students and volunteers hooked up to the emulators, the researchers collected motion and energy expenditure data to understand how the way a person walks with the exoskeleton relates to how much energy they are using.

These data revealed the relative benefits of different kinds of assistance offered by the emulator. It also informed a machine-learning model that the real-world exoskeleton now uses to adapt to each wearer. Unlike the emulator, the untethered exoskeleton can monitor movement using only inexpensive wearable sensors integrated into the boot.

“We measure force and ankle motion through the wearables to provide accurate assistance,” said Slade. “By doing this, we can carefully control the device as people walk and assist them in a safe, unobtrusive way.”

A 30-pound boost

The exoskeleton makes walking easier and can increase speed by applying torque at the ankle, replacing some of the function of the calf muscle. As users take a step, just before their toes are about to leave the ground the device helps them push off.

When a person is first using the exoskeleton, it provides a slightly different pattern of assistance each time the person walks. By measuring the resulting motion, the machine learning model determines how to better assist the person the next time they walk. It takes only about one hour of walking for the exoskeleton to customize to a new user.

In tests, the researchers found their exoskeleton exceeded their expectations. According to their calculations, the energy savings and speed boost were equivalent to “taking off a 30-pound backpack.”

“Optimized assistance allowed people to walk 9% faster with 17% less energy expended per distance traveled, compared to walking in normal shoes. These are the largest improvements in the speed and energy of economy walking of any exoskeleton to date,” said Collins. “In direct comparisons on a treadmill, our exoskeleton provides about twice the reduction in effort of previous devices.”

The next step for the exoskeleton is to see what it can do for the target demographic: older adults and people who are beginning to experience mobility decline due to disability. The researchers also plan to design variations that improve balance and reduce joint pain, and to work with commercial partners to turn the device into a product.

“This is the first time we’ve seen an exoskeleton provide energy savings for real-world users,” said Slade. “I believe that over the next decade we’ll see these ideas of personalizing assistance and effective portable exoskeletons help many people overcome mobility challenges or maintain their ability to live active, independent, and meaningful lives.”

“We’ve been working towards this goal for about 20 years, and I’m honestly a little stunned that we were finally able to do it,” said Collins. “I really think this technology is going to help a lot of people.”

North America’s biggest battery materials processor, Cirba Solutions, announced Wednesday the expansion of its lithium-ion processing facility in Lancaster, Ohio with an investment over $200 million.

It will be one of the largest battery recycling facilities operating in North America, the company said, and estimates it will produce enough battery-grade raw materials from recycled batteries to power more than 200,000 new EVs annually.

This expansion supports the company’s four-year roadmap to increase its recycled battery cathode production by 600%, Cirba said, adding it will also create an estimated 150 jobs to the greater Columbus area, while broadening community outreach and battery education to the public.

“This project supports the growing need for providing critical EV materials for a sustainable and sustained domestic battery supply chain,” David Klanecky, Cirba Solutions CEO said in a media statement.

“This strategic location will supply battery grade metal salts to our customers’ manufacturing facilities and contribute to global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Cirba Solutions supports a critical stage in the battery supply chain by collecting, transporting, and processing manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. Currently, it is one of the largest producers of black mass from recycled lithium-ion batteries with more than 50 million pounds of EV batteries recycled.

“Expanding the capacity for lithium-ion battery recycling within the United States is imperative as the country seeks to increase domestically sourced battery materials,” Klanecky said.

“This will be one of many of our operational investments to strengthen supply, enhance national security, and promote sustainability principles. It will also bolster more manufacturers’ ability to reach their electrification goals, including those set out in the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Last month, Cirba Solutions announced plans to construct a lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Eloy, Arizona. The 75,000-square-foot location is expected to process enough battery material to power 50,000 EVs annually.

The company aims to open seven processing facilities in North America by 2026.

A Pohang University of Science & Technology research team succeeded in developing an anode-free lithium battery. The design maximized energy density and improved energy density by 40%.

The Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) research team led by Professor Soojin Park and PhD candidate Sungjin Cho (Department of Chemistry) in collaboration with Professor Dong-Hwa Seo and Dr. Dong Yeon Kim (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) at Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed anode-free lithium batteries with performance of long battery life on a single charge.

The team’s study paper has been published in Advanced Functional Materials.

The number of newly registered electric vehicles (EVs) in Korea surpassed 100,000 units last year alone. Norway is the only other country to match such numbers. The core materials that determine the battery life and charging speed of now commonly seen EVs are anode materials. Korea’s domestic battery industry has been committed to finding revolutionary ways to increase the battery capacity by introducing new technologies or other anode materials. The team asked, “What if we get rid of anode materials altogether?”

The newly developed anode-free battery has a volumetric energy density of 977Wh/L which is 40% higher than the conventional batteries (700wh/L).

Batteries usually change the structure of anode materials as lithium ions flow to and from the electrode during repetitive charging and discharging. This is why the battery capacity decreases over time. It was thought that if it was possible to charge and discharge only with a bare anode current collector without anode materials, the energy density – which determines the battery capacity – would increase. However, this method had a critical weakness which causes significant swelling of the anode volume and reduces the battery lifecycle. It swelled because there was no stable storage for lithium in the anode.

To overcome this issue, the research team succeeded in developing an anode-free battery in a commonly-used carbonate-based liquid electrolyte by adding an ion conductive substrate. The substrate not only forms an anode protective layer but also helps minimize the bulk expansion of the anode.

The team’s study showed that the battery maintained high capacity of 4.2mAh cm-2 and high current density of 2.1 mA cm-2 for a long period in the carbonate-based liquid electrolyte. It was also proven both in theory and through experiments that substrates can store lithium.

Additionally, what’s drawing even more attention is that the team successfully demonstrated the solid- state half-cells by using Argyrodite-based sulfide-based solid electrolyte. It is anticipated that this battery will accelerate the commercialization of non-explosive batteries since it maintains high capacity for longer periods.

Once in a very long while the research news is just shocking. No Anode? Is it even a battery by definition? Well, yes, an anode of sorts forms up in the substrate.

As this concept is in its infancy there are lots of questions that will need answered. What comes to mind to those of use buying batteries is, how much lithium, the major cost in lithium batteries, is used for the same capacity as current technology?

That question determines the future of this technology. If a third less, this might be a revolution in battery construction.

The gold rush is back, but this time the focus is on “white gold” lithium – a major player in the world’s shift toward green energy.

The metal has been referred to as “the new gasoline” because of its use in electric vehicle batteries, but you can also find it in smartphones, laptops, Airpods, electric toothbrushes, smartwatches, e-cigarettes, pacemakers and other devices.

The metal is in the midst of a boom. Prices have surged roughly 500% year over year, triggering a global race to find and extract more.

While there’s an abundance within the U.S. – billions of dollars’ worth of the metal is believed to be contained in just one mine in Nevada – the country relies on imports. There are plans to open more mines in states like Nevada, California and North Carolina to help the U.S. reach supply goals.

“It’s funny how the development of this is just picked up immensely over the last four or five years. The lithium market was a pretty sleepy market for decades,” said Ken Hoffman, the co-head of consulting firm McKinsey & Company’s EV Battery Materials Research Group. “All of a sudden, the battery space really started to explode.”

Why is lithium important?

Lithium can be used in ceramics, greases and pharmaceuticals, but it’s best known as the material in batteries for cell phones, laptops and EVs. The rechargeable batteries take advantage of lithium’s light weight (it’s the lightest of all metals) and high electrochemical potential.

Production in 2021 was up 21% from the year prior while global consumption of lithium was up 33%, per the U.S. Geological Survey.

“One of the major reasons is because of those electric vehicles,” said Zhimin Xi, an associate professor at Rutgers’ department of industrial and systems engineering whose research interests include lithium-ion batteries.

EV sales doubled in 2021 to nearly 7 million units and have kept strong in 2022 as consumers turn toward vehicles that are more environmentally friendly.

Hoffman also noted that EV’s low maintenance and fuel costs are attracting buyers.

“There’s a lot of cost of ownership changes that people will see over time,”  Hoffman said. “The reason why automotive companies are embracing this so much is it’s just a better, cheaper form of transportation.”

What country has the most lithium?

While the United States has significant lithium sources, it imports most lithium from countries like Argentina, Chile, China and Russia. The only domestic lithium production comes from one brine operation in Nevada.

But more U.S. production is on the horizon.

The Biden administration last year laid out a 10-year plan to incentivize more “safe, equitable and sustainable” domestic mining ventures for raw materials for lithium batteries.

“There is a race to capture the market,” reads the 2021 blueprint from the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries. “Strengthening and bolstering U.S. competitiveness in advanced battery innovation and manufacturing is vital.”

Is lithium expensive?

Lithium prices are up more than 500% year-over-year, according to an April report fromMcKinsey & Company.

That’s bad news for EV buyers looking for a deal. The average cost for lithium batteries is expected to jump in 2022 after falling for more than a decade in part due to supply chain issues. Just how much prices will increase by the end of the year is still up for debate, but some experts expect to see prices rise about 20%, per Axios.

Y. Shirley Meng, a professor of molecular engineering at the University of Chicago, said the price hike is likely temporary and won’t do much to tamper the rising demand for electric cars.

“That sets us back a little bit,” she said. But “people still think it’s more important that we reduce emissions as much as possible, even if it means they have to pay a little bit more.”

As for the price of consumer goods with smaller lithium-ion batteries like smartphones, experts say those prices should be more stable.

“For a lot of smaller-scale devices that you more regularly buy, like a cell phone or laptop, the batteries per unit energy or per unit mass are already priced in on the relatively higher side,” said Gary Koenig, an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s department of chemical engineering.

Will lithium supplies run out?

Lithium is more abundant than other popular metals like tin and silver, with over 39 million tons of lithium resources across the globe.

With the growing demand for electric vehicles, the need for high-safety, long-life batteries also rises. Yet electric vehicles’ demand for high energy density batteries outpaces the capabilities of the current lithium-ion batteries. Scientists are looking to develop lithium metal batteries with lithium metal as the anode because these batteries have a much higher charging capacity. However, there are safety issues with lithium-metal batteries because dendrites—spiky, metallic microstructures—form during the charging process. A team of Chinese researchers set out to solve the problem of the lithium dendrite formation and to build high-safety, long-life lithium metal batteries. The team has successfully designed an electrolyte that suppresses the formation of the dendrites. This electrolyte delivers excellent performance in lithium metal batteries and offers solutions in the research toward building high-safety, long-life lithium metal batteries. The team’s findings are published in the journal Nano Research. While lithium metal anodes hold great potential for high-energy storage batteries, the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth raises significant concerns. The dendrite growth occurs when the lithium ions move and convert to one specific location on the lithium metal surface. The dendrites cause poor cycling efficiency in the battery and are a severe safety issue. The team tackled the dendrite problem by combining the advantages of conventional electrolytes and high-concentration electrolytes. The high-concentration electrolytes overcome some of the shortcomings of conventional electrolytes, and hold strong promise for use in next-generation batteries. The electrolyte the team created delivers excellent electrochemical performance in lithium metal batteries and suppresses formation of dendrites. “Its unique structure not only promotes the uniform conversion of ions on the electrode surface but also ensures the rapid movement of ions in the electrolyte,” said Chunpeng Yang, a professor at Tianjin University. The researchers began their work by running numerical simulations to explore the effect of a negatively charged coating to induce the interfacial high-concentration electrolyte. Then as a proof-of-concept material, the researchers coated nitrogen- and oxygen-doped carbon nanosheets, that have surface negative charges, with nickel foam to create the electrode. The positively charged lithium ions are concentrated near the nitrogen- and oxygen-doped carbon electrode that is coated with nickel. This concentration of lithium ions promotes the charge transfer reactions on the electrode contribute to outstanding electrochemical cycling performances. The researchers conducted half-cell and full-cell tests on the electrode with excellent results. Their electrode performs much better than other electrodes based on pure nickel foam. “This provides a simple principle for suppressing the lithium dendrites by simultaneously taking into account the advantages of conventional electrolyte and high-concentration electrolyte for stable Li metal anode, which may be applied to other substrates for practical metal batteries,” said Yang. Beyond coating negatively surface-charged materials on the electrode to guide the formation of interfacial high-concentrated electrolytes, the team plans to look for other ways to obtain this unique electrolyte structure as means to achieving high-performance batteries. The researchers hope to achieve the commercial application of Li metal batteries with high energy density, high safety and long life, by systematically optimizing the battery components. “Our study results could be extended to more metal-battery systems, such as sodium, zinc and magnesium metal batteries, which will contribute to the realization of large-scale energy storage for sustainable energy supply,” said Yang