Worldwide, the need to curb carbon emissions from vehicles is of precedence among individuals at various fronts. In one such effort, recently, the state of California announced a plan to put a stop to gasoline-fueled vehicles in less than 15 years. This, of course, will come into effect if orders issued by the current governor hold strong.
In a bid for this, supercomputers funded by institutions of the National Science Foundation have allowed researchers to make progress to develop sustainable electric vehicles. With a focus on batteries that power these electric vehicles, researchers have been able to develop more reliable and efficient light trucks and electric cars.
The research community at UC San Diego, Washington State University, Washington University in Saint Louis recently received allocations of these supercomputers for continued research.
“In fact, for many years, the research community is engaged in making lithium-ion batteries that last longer and charge faster,” stated one of the associates. Meanwhile, Comet – the supercomputer at supercomputer Center, San Diego was crucial to perform some principal calculations. Precisely, the supercomputer was used to elucidate the unique lithium diffusion and insertion mechanisms responsible for the high rate of capability in the development of a new anode material that is underway.
Meanwhile, the new anode material was the focus of a recent publication in the journal Nature from the research associate. Importantly, the new anode material is found to be safer alternative to the usual graphite anode in currently used lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, the co-author of the study explained that the new anode material can be cycled for more than 6,000 times with nearly zero decay in capacity. In addition, the new anode material can charge and discharge energy rapidly releasing more than 40% of its capacity in 20 seconds.
