Argonne to Develop Lithium-Air Battery

Li-air batteries hold the promise of increasing the energy density of Li-ion batteries by as much as five to 10 times. But that potential will not be realized until critical scientific challenges have been addressed.

Argonne will begin developing world-changing lithium-air (Li-air) batteries that have the capacity to store up to five to 10 times the energy of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, or almost as much energy as a tank of gasoline of the same size.

To develop the Li-air battery, Argonne will leverage its experience in the development of Li-ion batteries, its expert staff of scientists and engineers, and its most advanced research facilities, including the Advanced Photon Source, the Center for Nanoscale Materials and some of the world's fastest supercomputers.

How Does a Lithium-air Battery Work?

Li-air batteries use a catalytic air cathode that supplies oxygen, an electrolyte, and a lithium anode. Developing the Li-air battery will require transformational science in materials design, chemistry, and engineering. Realization of a viable Li-air battery will require a technological breakthrough and it may take one to two decades before the product will be adopted in a commercial application.

Lithium-air Battery Team and Partners

Led by Khalil Amine and Michael Thackeray, Argonne scientists in materials and systems synthesis, characterization, and computer modeling will tackle the Li-air battery challenge.

Team members include:

• Larry Curtiss (MSD, CNM, CSE)
• Mali Balasubramanian (APS)
• Yugang Sun (CNM)
• Nenad Markovic (MSD)
• Di-Jia Liu (CSE)
• Yang Ren (XSD)
• Zonghai Chen (CSE)
• Zhengcheng Zhang (CSE)
• Lynn Trahey (CSE)
• Christopher Johnson (CSE)
• Jeffrey Greeley (CNM)

Argonne will also leverage existing relationships with start-up companies and other business partners who will be able to collaborate on commercializing the Li-air battery.

Funding

Funding is provided through Argonne’s Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Director’s Grand Challenge program. The proposal, “Beyond Li-ion Battery Technology for Energy Storage,” was submitted by Amine and Thackeray. The research will receive $1 million for the first year.

November 2009