A New Battery Binding Material Can Increase Battery Life By 10%, At No Extra Material Cost

Researchers at Canada’s Dalhousie University have a surprising discovery while researching the battery binding material on lithium-ion batteries – the new material promises 10% increase in battery life, at virtually no extra cost to the battery makers.

The findings involve swapping the existing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tape to polypropylene (PP) tape, and aside from 10% endurance improvements, it’s also reducing self-discharge rates by as much as 70%. Self-discharge is a phenomenon in batteries where it loses capacity slowly over time when left unused. The best part? PP tape is also an equally common material as PET tape, which means very little cost required for manufacturers to make the switch.

The research points out that the interactions between PET tape and Li-ion batteries have been “largely overlooked”, as the PET tape “depolymerize”, causing significant self-charge in the cells. “This is really the first time we’ve seen that something that is generally regarded as very inactive in batteries, is essentially anything but,” said Ph.D. student Anu Adamson, who leads the research efforts.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Pokdepinion: Every little improvement counts – Li-ion batteries are hard to develop these days. Perhaps this can be commercialized soon enough?

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