Hong Kong University of Science and Technology develops electronic fuel to fully charge electric vehicles in a matter of minutes
Time:2019-10-29
According to foreign media reports, in an inter-university research project led by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), an environmentally friendly rechargeable liquid fuel was successfully developed, which is expected to cause a sensation on a global scale. The fuel can fully charge an electric car in a matter of minutes, which will be a major advancement in existing battery technology, as existing battery technology still takes hours to fully charge the car.
This type of fuel is called "e-fuel" and is a carbon-neutral fuel if it is charged with solar or wind energy. Like fossil fuels, the fuel can be easily sent to the grid and quickly recharge the car.
The study, titled "Production of Rechargeable Electronic Fuels for Fixed Power and Electric Vehicles", was led by Professor ZHAO Tianshou of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and supported by scholars from the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Professor Zhao explained: "We have successfully developed a stable lithium-sulfur battery with high energy density and the ability to store energy at low cost, which can be applied to electric vehicles and to transmit large amounts of solar and wind energy. Grid. For us, the happiest thing is to convert the lithium-sulfur battery into a mobile system, that is, electronic fuel."
The electronic fuel system inherits the chemical characteristics of the lithium-sulfur battery, and has the advantages of large capacity of lithium metal and low cost of sulfur cathode. Although the research team has made great progress in developing electronic fuels, they still have many challenges to overcome. First, dendrites form on the surface of the lithium, which can shorten battery life. Second, the vented sulfur will dissolve and diffuse, destroying the lithium anode.
CHEN Qing, an associate professor who participated in the project with Professor Zhao, said: "There is a solution that uses a porous lithium anode to protect its surface, but it requires a very laborious process. Therefore, we use thermodynamics through two spontaneous reactions. , a porous lithium anode is formed on the carbon skeleton, and a protective composite layer is coated on the surface thereof."
This simple and efficient method enables the high-performance lithium-sulfur battery to achieve the best performance record. The load is the amount of active material contained in each area of the device. The higher the load, the higher the theoretical performance can become a reality. High performance system.