A robust battery separator is constructed using nanomaterials derived from seaweed by a team lead by Bristol, opening the door for cleaner and more effective energy storage.
One of the most promising high-energy and affordable energy storage solutions for the upcoming wave of large-scale applications is sodium-metal batteries (SMBs). However, uncontrolled dendrite formation, which penetrates the battery’s separator and causes short-circuiting, is one of the main barriers to the development of SMBs.
The team has been successful in creating a separator out of cellulose nanoparticles generated from brown seaweed, building on earlier work at the University of Bristol and working with Imperial College and University College London.
The study, which was published in Advanced Materials, explains how fibers containing these seaweed-derived nanoparticles not only prevent sodium electrode crystals from accessing the separator but also enhance battery performance.
This work really demonstrates that greener forms of energy storage are possible, without being destructive to the environment in their production.
Professor Steve Eichhorn
“The aim of a separator is to separate the functioning parts of a battery (the plus and the minus ends) and allow free transport of the charge. We have shown that seaweed-based materials can make the separator very strong and prevent it from being punctured by metal structures made from sodium. It also allows for greater storage capacity and efficiency, increasing the lifetime of the batteries something which is key to powering devices such as mobile phones for much longer,” said Jing Wang, first author and PhD student in the Bristol Composites Institute (BCI). Dr. Amaka Onyianta, also from the BCI, who created the cellulose nanomaterials, co-authored the research.
“I was delighted to see that these nanomaterials are able to strengthen the separator materials and enhance our capability to move towards sodium-based batteries. This means we wouldn’t have to rely on scarce materials such as lithium, which is often mined unethically and uses a great deal of natural resources, such as water, to extract it.”
“This work really demonstrates that greener forms of energy storage are possible, without being destructive to the environment in their production,” said Professor Steve Eichhorn who led the research at the Bristol Composites Institute.
Upgrading manufacturing of these materials and replacing current lithium-based technology present the next hurdle.
