Professor Kang Ki-suk at Seoul National University announced on October 4 that his research team developed a new anode material for a lithium secondary battery, adding that he and his team raised its voltage through the adjustment of the fluorine and oxygen contents.
The new material uses vanadium and fluorinated phosphate instead of cobalt oxide, which is widely used in lithium batteries as the anode substance. “We’ve found out that our method can provide higher stability than cobalt lithium batteries do,” said the professor.
The vanadium-based anode material developed at this time shows a stability level as high as those of iron and phosphate while having higher energy density. A battery with higher energy density can store more electricity at the same volume. Still, vanadium costs more than iron or phosphate in producing an anode substance. Reduction of the production cost is a problem that the team has yet to solve.
More information on the research is available on the October 4 edition of the Scientific Report, a sister magazine of the Nature Online.