Newswise — When it comes to figuring out why electric aircraft batteries lose power over time, one typically turns to a decades-old approach used by biologists to study the structure and function of components in living organisms. Will not think of turning back. However, it turns out that omics, a field that helped scientists unravel the secrets of the human genome, may also soon play a key role in making carbon-free air travel a reality.
in a new Study in the journal jouleA team of researchers led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used omics techniques to study the complex interactions within the anode, cathode, and electrolyte of electric aircraft batteries. One of the most important findings was the discovery that certain salts mixed into the battery electrolyte formed a protective coating on the cathode particles, making them far more resistant to corrosion, thereby increasing battery life.
The research team, which includes scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and industry partners ABA (Palo Alto, CA) and 24M (Cambridge, MA), designed and tested an electric aircraft battery using their new electrolyte solution . , The battery saw a four-fold increase in the number of cycles during which it could maintain the power-to-energy ratio required for electric aerial flight, compared to conventional batteries. The next step in the project will be for the team to create enough batteries (about 100 kWh total capacity) for the anticipated 2025 test flight.
“Heavy transportation sectors, including aviation, have been underserved in terms of electrification,” said Brett Helms, corresponding author of the study and a senior staff scientist at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry. “Our work redefines what is possible, enabling deep decarbonization while pushing the boundaries of battery technology.”
Electric air travel presents unique challenges
Unlike electric vehicle batteries, which prioritize sustained energy over long ranges, electric aircraft batteries face the unique challenge of higher energy requirements for takeoff and landing combined with higher energy density for extended flight.
“In an electric vehicle, you focus on the reduction in capacity over time,” said Youngmin Ko, a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry and lead author of the study. “But for the aircraft, it is the reduction in power that is important – the reduction in ability to consistently get higher power for takeoff and landing.”
According to Ko, conventional battery designs are weak in this regard, mostly due to a lack of understanding of what is happening at the interface between the electrolyte, anode, and cathode. Ko said this is where the omics approach comes into play, a methodology borrowed from the biological sciences to understand patterns from changes in chemical signatures in complex systems.
“Biologists use omics to study complex relationships between things like gene expression and DNA structure,” Helms said. “So, we wanted to see if we could use a similar approach to examine the chemical signatures of battery components and identify the reactions that contribute to power fades and where they were occurring.” Are.”
The researchers focused their analysis on lithium metal batteries with high-voltage, high-density layered oxides containing nickel, manganese and cobalt. In contrast to earlier research, which generally thought the power fade problem was the result of something happening at the anode of the battery, the team observed that the power fade primarily originates from the cathode side. This is where the particles break down and corrode over time, disrupting the charge speed and reducing the efficiency of the battery. Additionally, the researchers found that specific electrolytes can control the corrosion rate at the cathode interface.
“It was a non-obvious result,” Ko said. “We found that adding salt to the electrolyte can generally reduce the reactivity of reactive species, creating a stable, corrosion-resistant coating.”
After developing their new electrolyte, the researchers tested it in a high-capacity battery. It showed excellent power retention using electric vertical take-off and landing in a realistic mission. The team hopes to have the batteries ready for anticipated 2025 flight testing in aircraft prototypes built by the four eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) partners by the end of the year. Looking ahead, Helms and Coe said the team and their collaborators hope to expand the use of omics in battery research, the interactions of different electrolyte components to understand and tailor battery performance for current and emerging use-cases in transportation. Planning to explore. Grid.
The Molecular Foundry is a DOE Science User Facility office at Berkeley Lab.
This work was supported by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and DOE’s Office of Science.
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to providing solutions for mankind through research in clean energy, a healthy planet, and discovery science. Founded in 1931 with the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been awarded 16 Nobel Prizes. Researchers from around the world rely on the Lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their leading-edge research. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
DOE’s Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science,
