New battery first to use graphene

Energy storage specialist California Lithium Battery (CLBattery) has announced that it has begun work to commercialise a third-generation lithium-ion battery based on technology created at the Argonne National Laboratory. The result: a battery which promises to last three times as long as anything else on the market.

The secret lies in Argonne's silicon carbide battery anode material, which replaces the graphite anode traditionally used in lithium-ion batteries. While silicon carbide had previously been discounted for use in lithium-ion batteries due to its instability, Argonne researchers discovered that applying graphene to the anode - a process it calls graphitisation - resulted in a material with twice the lithium-ion capacity of graphite alone.

Using graphitised silicon carbide as an anode, Argonne claims, results in a direct reduction in weight of the combined anode and cathode by 16 per cent - or, alternatively, an increase in capacity for the same weight. The technology promises to scale with future battery technologies, too, up to a potential 50 per cent weight reduction.