Research lays the groundwork for longer lasting batteries

A battery’s life cycle is more dynamic than we once thought, according to new Northeastern research

Juner Zhu, assistant professor, mechanical and industrial engineering, works inside The Kostas Research Institute. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Inside nearly every battery you use is a collection of electrode particles arranged similarly to the stars that make up our galaxy.

For years, researchers have understood those particles, particularly in in lithium-ion batteries, to be fixed and remain relatively stable throughout a battery’s life.

Yet new research published in “Sciene” overturns that long held assumption, showing that many of these particles move more like shooting stars or meteors, adding a new dimension to our understanding of battery degradation, explained Juner Zhu, a Northeastern University professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and one of the authors of the research.

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The findings could help lay the groundwork for longer-lasting and more reliable batteries by providing documentation and analysis on the chemical reactions and mechanical properties that cause those particles to move the way they do, the researchers said.

Using motion tracking mapping and advanced X-ray imaging of three-dimensional objects, the team, which included experts from the University of Texas at Austin, observed that those electrode particles can move quite dynamically and far while a battery is in use.

These movements are caused primarily by evolving and ever-changing chemical reactions inside the battery, causing the particles to move at different rates throughout the battery’s life, Zhu and his team theorized. In this way, batteries could be understood almost as “living systems” changing over time,” he said.

He compared it to the human life cycle. The recommended food and exercise we should receive as babies is much different than the food and exercise we receive as adults and seniors.

Batteries, the researchers have uncovered, are the same way. They require different amounts of management early in their life cycle compared to their middle and end of life.

Researcher Juner Zhu, wearing safety glasses and gloves, reaches into a lab chamber while working on electric vehicle battery research at Northeastern’s Kostas Research Institute in Burlington, Massachusetts. — Juner Zhu, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, said batteries are dynamic systems. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Better understanding this phenomenon could be key in helping reduce battery degradation and in developing smarter battery control management systems.

“Because [these particles] are dynamically evolving, our control strategy should also be dynamically evolving,” he said. “Our algorithms should evolve for our batteries to last longer.”