MIET and IPCE RAS scientists developed a material for frost-resistant electronics

The material that will protect lithium-ion batteries from loss of charge at low temperatures was developed by MIET scientists together with specialists from Frumkin Institute of Physical chemistry and Electrochemistry Russian academy of sciences. According to them, the use of germanium nanocrystal anodes will make it possible to achieve unprecedented frost-resistance of batteries. The research was published in the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are in high demand in electronics due to their combination of high energy density, light weight and low self-discharge. However, even modern batteries of this type lose most of their capacity and power when it is cold. This becomes a problem not only for ordinary users.

Today, the global trend is to explore the Arctic territories, where temperatures can drop to -50°C and below. Therefore, the development of new cold-resistant batteries is one of the important technical problems. To solve it, the specialists synthesized whisker germanium nanocrystals and studied their functional properties as an anode material, that is, a battery negative electrode.

At -20°C, the capacity of the developed germanium anode is 10 times more than that of a standard graphite anode. At the same time, according to the scientists, other frost-resistant materials have certain disadvantages: low operating voltage and low energy intensity even at room temperature, a very slow charging process, manufacturing complexity, and others.

“We obtain whisker germanium nanocrystals electrochemically from an aqueous solution of germanium oxide on a conductive substrate. Due to the simple technology and the unique properties of the synthesized nanostructures, we managed to overcome many difficulties and we are sure that the cost of the final product will be relatively low,” said Aleksey Dronov, Associate Professor of the Institute of AMT.