MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Researchers from the Siberian Federal University (SFU), the Krasnoyarsk Research Center at the Siberian Division of the RAS, and the National University of Science and Technology MISIS have discovered a way to make lithium-ion batteries double its capacity. To do so, they came up with the idea to use graphene and vanadium disulfide as an anode. The discovery is described in an article published recently in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
"The results of our study show that the structures comprised of graphene and vanadium disulfide can be applied as a perspective anode material for lithium-ion batteries with a high unit capacity and charge rate," the authors wrote in the research article.
The lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable batteries, used today in most electronic devices, including all modern smartphones. This type of battery has two electrodes: the positively charged anode and negatively charged cathode, separated with a polymer material. When connected to a power outlet, the ions of lithium move from cathode to anode, while the reverse process takes place in the course of giving up the energy.
The researchers suggested using a combination of graphene and vanadium disulfide. The unit capacity of such material is provided by the fact that lithium ions are bound not only at the surface (as in conventional batteries) but also between the layers of material. One of these layers is graphene, a 2D modification of carbon, while the second layer is vanadium disulfide (VS2). The overall thickness of the two-layer plate is about one nanometer. The calculations indicate that the unit capacity of anode material in such case reaches 569 mAh per gram, which is almost double that of pure graphite often applied in modern batteries.
The mobility of lithium ions inside the anode materials also ensures a high charge rate. These lithium-ion batteries can charge substantially faster, also at low temperatures within a surrounding area.