- 2018-09-26
Samsung develops graphene battery
Samsung Electronics has developed core battery technology that uses graphene to extend the life of lithium-ion batteries and speed up charging. If this technology can be put into mass production, it will mark an industry milestone.
The South Korean conglomerate said that its research institution, Samsung Advanced Technology Research Institute (SAIT), has successfully synthesized "graphene balls", which can increase battery capacity by 45% while increasing the charging speed to five times the current standard.
The strength, conductivity and elasticity of graphene have made it known as a "miracle material" in the global electronics industry, and it has been regarded as a substitute for lithium-ion batteries since it was discovered in 2004. It is a form of carbon that can be used to develop smaller and thinner batteries with larger capacity.
Samsung said that this graphene battery can be fully charged in only 12 minutes; while the existing lithium-ion battery requires about an hour to charge. The new battery can also be used in electric vehicles, which can remain stable in a temperature range of up to 60 degrees Celsius.
After the safety disaster of the spontaneous combustion of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone (see the first photo) in 2016, Samsung has strengthened its research on battery technology. According to Samsung, the recall and subsequent withdrawal of this easy-to-fire mobile phone cost the company more than $5 billion, and some of these mobile phones caught fire due to problems with lithium-ion batteries.
The company announced that the Samsung Advanced Technology Research Institute has developed a method to use silica to synthesize graphene like three-dimensional popcorn, and then use these graphene "balls" as materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries. Samsung has applied for patents for this technology in South Korea and the United States.
According to experts, graphene has higher energy efficiency, so it can provide space for other cathode materials. As a result, smartphones using graphene batteries can be made lighter and thinner, but with larger battery capacity.
The basic form of graphene is a single-layer sheet of carbon atoms in a lattice. This material can be used in flexible displays, wearable devices and other next-generation electronic devices. However, although the first commercialization of lithium-ion battery technology in 1991 is considered to be reaching physical limits, experts cautioned that the commercialization of graphene battery technology is still years away.
"This is an amazing technology with a wide range of potential applications, but it will take a long time for graphene batteries to go into mass production," said Kim Young-woo of SK Securities. "The key is who can commercialize this technology first. It is not easy to apply fine processing technology to mass-produce high-quality electronic grade graphene."
Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, director of research company IDTechEx, said that Samsung has achieved some interesting results, but he cautioned that the world is still a long way from commercial development of such batteries.
"The level of technological readiness of this battery is still in the proof-of-concept to demonstration stage. We often read excellent results based on graphene at these stages, but only a few of them can be converted into commercial success cases," he said.
Samsung Advanced Technology Research Institute has been leading the development of Samsung's core technology and opened an artificial intelligence research laboratory in Canada earlier this year. The institute has also developed Samsung's new TV technology using cadmium-free quantum dot materials.