Controlling the flow of heat through materials is important for many technologies.

While materials
with high and low thermal conductivities are available, materials with variable and reversible thermal
conductivities are rare, and other than high pressure experiments, only small reversible modulations
in thermal conductivities have been reported.
(l to r) Paul Braun, David Cahill, and Jiung Cho.
For the first time, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have experimentally
shown that the thermal conductivity of lithium cobalt oxide (Li xCoO2), an important material for
electrochemical energy storage, can be reversibly electrochemically modulated over a considerable
range.
This work is the first experimental demonstration of the electrochemical modulation of the thermal
conductivity of a material, and, in fact, the only demonstration of large variable and reversible
thermal conductivities in any material by any approach, other than very high pressure experiments,
explained Paul Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering (MatSE) at Illinois. The
results of research have been reported in the article, Electrochemically Tunable Thermal
Conductivity of Lithium Cobalt Oxide, appearing in Nature Communications.
One technology that may be directly impacted by this work is the field of electrochemical energy
storage. Understanding and controlling heat evolution and dissipation in rechargeable batteries is
critical. Yet prior to this work, it was not even known that the thermal conductivity of materials
commonly used as cathodes changed significantly as a function of the state of charge.
Our work opens up opportunities for dynamic control of thermal conductivity and additionally, may
be important for thermal management in electrochemical energy storage devices which use
cathodes based on transition metals oxides such as lithium cobalt oxide, added MatSE
professor David Cahill, one of the papers co-authors.
A better understanding of the thermal properties of battery electrodes may help in the design of
batteries that can be charged more rapidly, deliver more power, and operate with a greater margin of
safety, since the heat generated during fast cycling and temperature variations in general are very
detrimental to lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium cobalt oxide is a chemical compound commonly used in the positive electrodes (cathodes) of
lithium-ion batteries. The process of lithiation (discharging) and delithiation (charging) of battery
cathode materials is one of the basic electrochemical processes in lithium ion batteries.
The in-situ TDTR liquid cell is composed of LiCoO2 thin film cathode, a Li anode, and liquid
electrolyte.
The experimental system is designed to be simple to avoid ambiguities common in thermal studies,
stated Jiung Cho, first author of the paper. Lithium cobalt oxide film is sputtered directly on a metal
coated electrode, and then immersed in a common electrolyte. Time-domain thermoreflectance
(TDTR) is used to measure the thermal conductivity of the lithium cobalt oxide thin film as a function
of lithiation.
We perform both in-situ experiments which enable direct observation of thermal conductivity as a
function of the degree of lithiation, and ex-situ experiments, which provide the thermal conductivity of
the lithiated and delithiated state in the absence of electrolyte, Cho said.

We suspect our findings are quite general, and that this will only be the first example of transition
metal oxides with oxidation-state dependent thermal conductivities, Braun said.

Working with a material identified in Silly Putty and surgical tubing, a group of researchers at the
University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have created a new way to make
lithium-ion batteries that will final 3 times longer involving charges compared to the current market
typical.
The team made silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanotube anodes for lithium-ion batteries and located they
had over three instances as a lot power storage capacity as the carbon-based anodes at the
moment getting utilized. This has substantial implications for industries like electronics and electric
cars, which are usually trying to squeeze longer discharges out of batteries.
"We are taking the identical material made use of in kids' toys and healthcare devices and even
rapid meals and using it to create subsequent generation battery materials," said Zachary Favors,
the lead author of a just-published paper on the analysis.
The paper, "Stable Cycling of SiO2 Nanotubes as High-Overall performance Anodes for Lithium-Ion
Batteries," was published on line in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
It was co-authored by Cengiz S. Ozkan, a mechanical engineering professor, Mihrimah Ozkan, an
electrical engineering professor, and quite a few of their present and former graduate students: Wei
Wang, Hamed Hosseinni Bay, Aaron George and Favors.
The team originally focused on silicon dioxide because it is an really abundant compound,
environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and found in a lot of other products.
Silicon dioxide has previously been utilised as an anode material in lithium ion batteries, but the
capability to synthesize the material into highly uniform exotic nanostructures with higher power
density and long cycle life has been restricted.
There essential getting was that the silicon dioxide nanotubes are extremely steady in batteries,
which is important mainly because it indicates a longer lifespan. Especially, SiO2 nanotube anodes
had been cycled one hundred times without the need of any loss in power storage capability and the
authors are hugely confident that they could be cycled hundreds a lot more instances.

The researchers are now focused on developed procedures to scale up production of the SiO2
nanotubes in hopes they could come to be a commercially viable solution.

Silly Putty
Silly Putty is a mold able silicone-based substance, sold chiefly as a toy, with
remarkable properties of stretching and bouncing.
Silicon Dioxide
Silicon Dioxide, also known as SiO2, is the material used to make a longer lasting
lithium-ion battery.
This battery can be used for electronics and electric vehicles, which would love
longer lifespans
The INM from Saarbruecken will be one of the few German research institutions at
the TechConnect World trade fair on 16 and 17 June in Washington DC, USA, where it
will be presenting this and other results. Working in cooperation with the VDI
Association of German Engineers it will be showcasing its latest developments at
Stand 301 in the German Area.
"The thing about our low friction coating is its composition and structure," explains
Carsten Becker-Willinger, Head of the Nanomers Program Division. "We have
incorporated platelet-like solid lubricants and platelet-like particles in a binder.
When this mixture is applied to a surface, it produces a well-ordered structure in
which these various particles are arranged in a roof tile pattern," he adds. This
forms a so-called transfer film between the low friction coating and the object
through which surfaces can slide with the minimum of friction. "The particular
mixture ratio means that our composite has a very low coefficient of friction. If we
only used a solid lubricant, the coefficient of friction would be considerably higher,"
says the chemist.
The roof tile structure not only provides low-friction sliding, it also acts as a barrier.
This is a particular advantage because as a result the material also prevents
moisture or salts penetrating metal surfaces, thus also protecting against corrosion.
In a neutral salt spray context, the composite has a corrosion resistance of over
1000 hours on low-alloy steel.
The bonded coating can be applied using classic wet chemistry processes such as
spraying or dipping. The roof tile structure forms by simple thermal curing without
any further assistance in self-organization