According to the report of ROSATOM’s fuel division TVEL, scientists from the scientific-technical center ‘Rosatom Khimia’ have developed new low-temperature electrolyte for battery operation under the extreme low temperatures up to -60°C.
Electrolyte is the solution of the lithium salts used to impregnate the porous separator and electrodes in storage batteries. It provides the movement of lithium cations. This makes multiple charge and discharge of the storage battery possible for a long period of time. However, under the conditions of extreme frost electrolyte becomes viscous like honey, internal resistance of the cell grows, concentration polarization increases and, as a result, the operating voltage of the cell decreases dramatically. Therefore, the scientists were faced with the task of enhancing the effectiveness of the solution in order to provide operation in extremely cold conditions.
“We have developed the electrolyte composition which is hardly sensitive to overcooling, that is why battery cells based on it lose maximum 30% of its total energy capacity even at -60°as compared to the operation under a room temperature,” Acting General Director of ‘Rosatom Khimia’ Alexander Seleznyov was quoted as saying in the report.
The technological solution found opens prospects for creating a production chain in Russia for making storage batteries suitable for use in Arctic conditions, as well as at the polar and space stations where the power cells lose efficiency due to cold.
The company is already in talks with the industrial partners to produce a series batch of cells with improved electrolyte.
