Inspired by the structure of small intestine, researchers develop more efficient batteries

Inspired by the small intestine, a team of UK and Chinese materials scientists developed batteries that are much more efficient that the current models.

The researchers have developed a next-generation lithium-sulphur battery, with tiny nanoscale fingers coating its electrodes, on the lines of the villi, small finger-like projections that increased the surface area of the inner lining of the small intestine. In addition to increasing the surface area, they also trap fragments of the electrode that break off, keeping them electrochemically accessible.

"It's a tiny thing, this layer, but it's important," said study co-author Paul Coxon from Cambridge's Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. "This gets us a long way through the bottleneck which is preventing the development of better batteries."

PhD student from Teng Zhao, from the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy at the Beijing Institute of Technology, added, "By taking our inspiration from the natural world, we were able to come up with a solution that we hope will accelerate the development of next-generation batteries."

This had only been a proof of principle so far but it would take some time until lithium-sulphur batteries became commercially available. There were also other issues to solve before that happened as lithium-sulphur batteries still did not last as long as lithium-ion batteries.

The new design overcomes one of the key technical problems hindering the commercial development of lithium-sulphur batteries, as it does not allow the degradation of the battery caused by the loss of material within it.

In the new lithium-sulphur battery, a layer of material having a villi-like structure, made from tiny zinc oxide wires, is placed on the surface of one of the battery's electrodes.

A typical lithium-ion battery comprises three separate components: an anode (negative electrode), a cathode (positive electrode) and an electrolyte in the middle.