2023-10-11 22:00:00
New electricity storage should offer higher energy density and do without the raw material cobalt.
Due to their heavy weight, lithium-ion batteries have so far only been used in aviation in exceptional cases. Currently there are only a few, relatively small battery-electric aircraft available for test operations.
AIT is researching future batteries
According to the researchers at the Austrian Institute of Technology, or AIT for short, this will change in the future. At the forefront of the European research project, in which twelve partners from eight countries cooperate, the scientists from Austria are researching powerful, easily recyclable and cobalt-free high-performance batteries. The specific goal of the “Highspin” project is a battery with an energy density of 390 watt hours per kilogram. Currently available lithium-ion batteries have a value of around 200 watt hours per kilogram of weight. With higher energy density, aircraft in the future might fly further with the same weight or achieve the same range with smaller and lighter batteries.
The future of battery technology
The high-spin battery will have an anode made of silicon and graphite, a cathode made of lithium-nickel-manganese oxide and a liquid electrolyte. In contrast to solid-state batteries, which are generally seen as the future of battery technology, batteries with a liquid conductive medium have the advantage of being able to use proven manufacturing processes, which would make series production cheaper. Another focus is to recycle the energy storage system as simply as possible. Valuable raw materials such as lithium, manganese, nickel, copper and aluminum should be recycled as completely as possible at the end of the battery’s life cycle. According to the project manager at AIT, Boschidar Ganev, mechanical, chemical and thermal processes are combined.
Solifly: Research for more climate-friendly aircraft
The goal of making aircraft more climate-friendly is also pursued by another research project in which the AIT has been playing a leading role for over two years: Together with the aviation research centers Onera and Cira as well as the universities of Vienna and Naples, research is being carried out as part of the “Solifly” project the development of special aircraft components that also serve as electrical energy storage and can be installed in the supporting structure. These multifunctional parts are intended to increase the overall efficiency of future aircraft.
According to a recent study by the International Energy Agency (IEA), aviation contributes around 2.4 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions to man-made climate change. Aviation should also become climate neutral by 2050.
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