2024-03-13 08:25:31
All-solid-state batteries attract attention as the next generation
Expected to replace internal combustion engines
Short lifespan must be overcome
Korea has sufficient battery competitiveness
There must be an influx of talent in science and engineering fields.
Choi Jang-wook, Professor at Seoul National University 2024.01.17 [이충우 기자]
“The dream battery, which can travel up to 1000 km on a single charge, has been prepared at the laboratory level. “Now the competition is at the mass production level.”
The ‘Hyundai Motor Group-Seoul National University Battery Joint Research Center’, jointly established by Hyundai Motor Group and Seoul National University, opened in July of last year at Seoul National University’s Gwanak Campus. Hyundai Motor Company will invest a total of more than 30 billion won here by 2030.
Why did Hyundai Motor Company, which also has a secondary battery research center within the group, invest in an external research center like this? This is to enable us to take a step back from the current battery war and focus on superlattice technology that can bring us closer to the ‘dream battery’. In fact, 14 of the 22 research projects currently being carried out by the joint research center are related to all-solid-state batteries, called ‘dream batteries’, and lithium metal batteries with high energy density per volume.
The goal of Choi Jang-wook, a professor in the Department of Chemical Biology at Seoul National University who leads the joint center, is also focused on ‘a battery that lasts 10,000 km and 10 years on a single charge.’
At a research center I recently visited, researchers were having a heated debate over compound synthesis. Professor Choi Jang-wook said, “Before proceeding with the actual synthesis, we proceed with the synthesis design stage. In the past, trial and error was done through actual synthesis, but these days, it has become common to conduct synthesis in advance through AI before proceeding with actual synthesis.” .
Professor Choi Jang-wook is a world-renowned scholar who is pioneering the future of batteries, including developing flexible battery materials, high-capacity electrode materials to extend use time, and post-lithium secondary battery technology. He is considered one of the Korean researchers closest to winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Currently, the most widely used battery is the lithium-ion battery, but it has clear disadvantages such as frequent ignition accidents, long charging times, and limited lifespan, making it impossible to end the era of the internal combustion engine. Professor Choi Jang-wook said, “The most difficult thing in battery development is the trade-off problem in which improving one function deteriorates another function.” He added, “Various factors such as energy density, long-term durability, and charging speed must be met, but as driving distance increases, durability increases. “There are problems such as teeth falling off,” he explained.
One of the leading candidates for next-generation battery technology is all-solid-state batteries. An all-solid-state battery is a battery in which the electrolyte, which is a medium for lithium ions, has been changed from liquid to solid. In this case, a solid electrolyte replaces the separator. In this way, the battery becomes structurally stronger, preventing fire, and can maintain its shape even if the packaging or electrolyte is damaged, lowering the risk of explosion or fire.
In particular, when using a solid electrolyte, lithium metal, which has the largest capacity among the negative electrode materials known to date but was not used due to instability, can be used as the negative electrode material, greatly increasing the capacity of the battery. Professor Choi said, “The driving range of current electric vehicles is technically maintained at the 500 to 600 km level,” and “If all-solid-state batteries are used, it is possible to increase the range to 900 km to 1,000 km, and it can be raised to the level of the current gasoline-based internal combustion engine.” “He said.
All-solid-state batteries also have challenges to overcome. The performance of the electrolyte material is still insufficient and since it is solid, there is a limitation in that internal electrical resistance increases as it is used, shortening its lifespan. Automobile manufacturers and battery companies around the world, such as Japan’s Toyota and Germany’s Volkswagen, are making an all-out effort to commercialize all-solid-state batteries that eliminate these shortcomings before 2030. Professor Choi Jang-wook said, “At the laboratory stage, all-solid-state batteries have already reached a significant level,” and added, “However, since the mass production stage is different, the key will be how economically efficient processes and materials can be secured.”
Choi Jang-wook, Professor at Seoul National University 2024.01.17 [이충우 기자]
Hyundai Motor Company and Seoul National University’s joint research center is collaborating with ‘SES’, a global startup that is developing lithium metal batteries rather than lithium-ion batteries. Professor Choi said, “A variety of materials are emerging to replace lithium-ion batteries, such as all-solid-state batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries,” and added, “Optimization for batteries, from materials to manufacturing, will become more important.”
Battery companies such as LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK Innovation are leading the global market, and Korea, which is leading the battery triumvirate of Korea, China, and Japan, is evaluated to have an advantage in the next-generation battery battle. Professor Choi said, “Korea’s greatest competitiveness is that it has sufficient know-how in technology and manufacturing,” and added, “We have a supply chain from material managers to cell manufacturers, so we will demonstrate our strength in the future battery competition.”
However, our battery industry is posing a major threat to China, which is gaining ground at an alarming rate. Professor Choi said, “Battery technology is important, but China dominates the raw materials,” and defined, “China is a target of competition, but also a partner that should be considered as a model for cooperation.” He continued, “China’s battery research community itself is enormous, and internal competition is fierce.” Regarding Japan, he said, “Traditional powerhouses such as Panasonic and Toyota are established in Japan, and the fundamentals established over a long period of time are solid, so they cannot be ignored.”
It is said that human resources is ultimately the key to our country’s survival in the next-generation battery competition. Professor Choi said, “In terms of industrial infrastructure, we already have sufficient infrastructure to become an advanced country in the next generation of batteries. Ultimately, the battery industry is also created by talents in science and engineering, so from a long-term perspective, talent with interest and talent in the field will continue to flow in. “That’s important,” he said.
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