Researchers from the Canadian Light Source synchrotron are testing new techniques and materials to produce cheaper, safer, longer-lasting and more powerful batteries. These batteries can be used in a wide range of products ranging from smartphones to vehicles.

"Typically, battery research involves cooking chemicals together to create new materials," said Dr. Jigang Zhou, CLS industrial staff scientist. "The performance of these materials is measured by testing the current, voltage, charge time, and number of charge cycles the materials can take."

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"Essentially, you take a stab in the dark and see how good your aim was," said Zhou.

This method, however, has a number of drawbacks and scientists are still not sure why some materials function better than others. Zhou and his colleagues are using Canada's national synchrotron to examine materials in an entirely new way.

A typical battery has a positive and a negative end called an electrode. Several materials can be used for the electrodes but the team of researchers opted for a new lithium-nickel-manganese-oxide material on the positive end that might provide batteries a markedly higher voltage.

The higher voltage the LMNO material provides an advantage, but it usually dries out the electrolyte, a necessary liquid for the cells to function properly. Understanding the role each novel material plays is crucial to advancing research into why the electrolyte dries up the way it does.

Synchrotron X-rays let researchers visualize the LMNO material in such fine detail that researchers can spot where the material is breaking down the liquid electrolyte and figure out what's happening and how to avoid it.

For the negative electrode, researchers found that silicon is a promising material they've had success with.

"Silicon offers the potential for a higher capacity battery that could hold more charge storage per gram when compared to conventional batteries," Zhou said. "Such a battery could work longer after a single charge."

Zhou believes research into perfecting the materials could lead to new and more powerful batteries.

Tagsbattery, Battery of the future, power, Canadian Light Source, Lithium-nickel-manganese-oxide, Silicone, Lithium, Nickel, Manganese, Oxygen