\n The addition of water into battery electrodes improves lithium transport but runs the risk of electrolysis.\n <\/p>\n
Renewable energy needs a place to be stored. This is often done using lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which is not the perfect solution. LIBs \u2014 which work by moving lithium ions through an electrolyte between the battery electrodes \u2014 can be volatile, posing risks like overheating.<\/p>\n
M\u00edguez-Roel et al. studied how water added to the electrolyte mixture can help with the energy storage capabilities of LIBs.<\/p>\n
It is generally difficult for lithium ions to move around in an electrolyte. The fluid is tightly packed and viscous, forcing ions to slow down and squeeze through.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater changes this because it\u2019s small and polar. It inserts itself around the ions \u2014 especially the small, highly charged Li+ \u2014 and partially screens the electrostatic attraction between them,\u201d said author Hadri\u00e1n Montes-Campos. \u201cThat weakens ion pairing and lets ions move more independently.\u201d<\/p>\n
At concentrations of 5%-10% and high operating voltages, the researchers found water can act as a lubricant in the electrolyte to improve lithium transport.<\/p>\n
But it can also be harmful if too much is added. Free water molecules \u2014 uncoordinated to ions \u2014 can decompose, thus creating safety and lifetime problems for the battery.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree water isn\u2019t just inert filler,\u201d Montes-Campos said. \u201cUnder the battery\u2019s operating voltage, it can split apart electrochemically into hydrogen and oxygen gas, a process that damages the electrode and shortens the electrolyte\u2019s useful lifespan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group hopes their work will offer concrete, quantitative guidelines to battery science, rather than treating water as an all-or-nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur work characterizes a competition between two effects of water: the improvement of transport properties and capacitance on one hand, and the risks associated with the electrolysis of free water on the other,\u201d Montes-Campos said.<\/p>\n
Source: \u201cInterfacial structure and electrochemical behavior of a ternary ionic liquid-based electrolyte with water and lithium salt: A computational analysis,\u201d by \u00c1ngel M\u00edguez-Roel, Mart\u00edn Otero-Lema, Ra\u00fal Lois-Cuns, Miguel A. Boado, Trinidad M\u00e9ndez Morales, Luis M. Varela, and Hadri\u00e1n Montes-Campos, Journal of Chemical Physics (2026). The article can be accessed at https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/5.0341138 <\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The addition of water into battery electrodes improves lithium transport but runs the risk of electrolysis. Renewable energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-889092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}