Dundee scientists may have found a way to prolong battery life extensively

Scientists at the University of Dundee have helped make a major breakthrough in battery research that could pave the way for longer-lasting, faster-charging and safer batteries in the future.

As per The Colchester Gazette who reported on the international study which was carried out by researchers from the University of Dundee and the University of Warwick, it has revealed something scientists had not fully understood before – that oxygen inside lithium-ion batteries plays a much more important role in storing and releasing energy than previously believed.

While that may sound highly technical, the discovery could eventually help engineers build batteries that keep their charge for longer, recharge more quickly and remain effective over many more years of use.

Lithium-ion batteries are used every day in mobile phones, laptops, tablets and electric vehicles. Until now, scientists believed that most of the work inside these batteries was carried out by metals such as nickel, cobalt and iron, with oxygen simply sitting in the background.

However, the Dundee and Warwick research team has shown that oxygen is actually an active part of the process, helping to move energy in and out of the battery during charging and discharging.

Understanding exactly what happens inside a battery at this tiny, atomic level gives scientists a much clearer picture of why batteries gradually lose performance over time – knowledge that could ultimately lead to significant improvements in future battery technology.

Dr Hrishit Banerjee, a theoretical physicist in the University of Dundee’s Faculty of Science, Engineering and Business, said renewable energy and battery technology have become an increasingly important part of modern life.

“Global populations have become increasingly reliant on renewable energy technologies and advanced energy storage systems, from the mobile phones in our pockets to the cars we drive,” he said.

“This has made understanding the technology underpinning electronic processes inside battery materials increasingly important.

“This research is crucial and gives us a new understanding of how batteries function at a fundamental level.”

The team compared two of the most widely used types of lithium-ion battery materials and found that oxygen behaves very differently depending on the battery’s design. In one of the most common battery types used in modern electronics and electric vehicles, oxygen was found to play a significant role in how energy is stored and released.

Dr Banerjee said the findings could help researchers design batteries that perform better and last much longer.

“By improving our knowledge of what is occurring at a tiny, atomic level within batteries, we can make big leaps in improving their performance in the real world,” he said.

“Current technologies are limited by the understanding of the underlying physics of how and why batteries fail over time.

“This general framework will help design batteries with much longer lifetimes.”

Although consumers will not see these improvements immediately, discoveries like this provide the scientific foundations for the next generation of battery technology, with potential benefits for everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.

The full findings have been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, one of the world’s leading scientific journals.