LG Energy Solution Ltd. has developed a new, long-lasting all-solid-state battery that can be charged at room temperatures, moving a step closer to commercializing solid-state batteries.

The South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery maker announced Friday that engineers at the company and University of California San Diego jointed developed a new type of silicon all-solid-state battery that uses both a solid-state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode.

The company said the researchers demonstrated a technology that can develop a battery that delivers 500 charge and discharge cycles with 80 percent capacity retention at room temperatures for the first time in the world. The new work is described in the journal of Science.

Silicon anodes can offer 10 times higher energy density than the graphite anodes mostly used in today’s commercial lithium-ion batteries. But they degrade with liquid electrolytes, so the existing solid-state batteries have relied on metallic lithium as an anode, which restricts the batteries to be charged at 60 degrees Celsius or higher.

In order to overcome the limitations, the researchers used micro-silicon and eliminated the carbon and the binders. The team also replaced liquid electrolyte with a sulfide-based solid electrolyte which is extremely stable in batteries with all-silicon anodes. In addition, the micro-silicon is less processed and less expensive than the nano-silicon that is more often used.

LG Energy Solution said the new work has brought them much closer to realizing all-solid-state battery techniques.

“LG Energy Solution is delighted that the latest research on battery technology with UC San Diego made it onto the journal of Science, a meaningful acknowledgement,” said Kim Myung-hwan, president and chief procurement officer at LG Energy Solution. “As a leading battery manufacturer, LG Energy Solution will continue its effort to foster state-of-the-art techniques in leading research of next-generation battery cells,” he added.

By Choi Mira

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