Wollongong Cites Battery Breakthrough

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Professor Zaiping Guo at the University of Wollongong’s Institute for Superconducting & Electronic Materials is working on improving lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles, as well as portable devices like mobile phones, and her school proclaims a breakthrough. Her team has developed a novel nanostructured Germanium (Ge)-based anode material for high-powered rechargeable lithium batteries. Professor Guo, an Australian Research Council (ARC) QEII Fellow, said the development of this inexpensive manufacturing technique is a breakthrough that will provide a significant improvement in battery technology, which can be used to power the next generation of clean-tech electric cars. “The novel anode materials are very simple to synthesize and cost-effective,” she said. “They can be fabricated in large-scale by industry, therefore have great commercial potential.” In tests, Ge-based cells have five times more energy storage and the potential to go at least twice as far on a charge as batteries used in current electric vehicles, according to the University. “This equates to …