Mobile phone batteries often have to contend with a relatively short lifespan. A research team from Australia’s RMIT University wants to change that. She has developed a technology that uses high-frequency sound waves to remove rust that impairs the performance of a battery. This should triple the service life of recyclable batteries. The batteries should last up to nine years, reports Science Daily.
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In Australia, only 10 percent of used handheld batteries, including cell phones, are collected for recycling. In an international comparison, that is very little. The remaining 90 percent of batteries end up in landfill or are improperly disposed of, causing significant damage to the environment. The high cost of recycling lithium is a major barrier to reuse. The research team now wants to solve this problem.
The team is working with a nanomaterial called MXene, a class of materials that could represent a promising alternative to lithium for future batteries. Leslie Yeo, lead researcher, said MXene is similar to graphene and has high electrical conductivity. “In contrast to graphene, MXenes are very adaptable and open up a whole range of possible technological applications in the future,” says Yeo.
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Sound waves remove rust from battery
The big challenge with using MXene was that it rusts easily, affecting electrical conductivity and rendering it unusable. “To overcome this challenge, we discovered that sound waves with a certain frequency remove the rust from MXene and almost restore it to its original state,” says Yeo.
The team’s innovation could one day help revitalize MXene batteries every few years. This should make it possible to extend their lifespan by a factor of three. The team says their work on removing rust from MXes opens the door to a wide range of applications. The technology could be used in areas such as energy storage, sensors, wireless transmission and environmental remediation, among others.
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Researchers want to work with industry
While the innovation shows promise, the team needs to work with industry to integrate their acoustic device into existing manufacturing processes. The team is also exploring the use of their invention to remove oxide layers from other materials for sensor and renewable energy applications. “We are very interested in working with industrial partners to scale up our rust removal method,” Yeo said.