How carbon materials can improve solar power, green hydrogen and battery technology
Author: Dr Jacob Martin
Lithium-ion batteries are a cornerstone technology for decarbonisation. They will power our electric cars and help buffer renewable energy fluctuations in the grid. But lithium metal reacts violently with air and water, leading to early lithium-cobalt batteries catching fire. It is only really in the past decade that these batteries have stad to decarbonise our lives through electric cars and in our electricity grids. And while lithium-ion batteries appear set to take over the world, there are still some issues that could lead to manufacturing bottlenecks. Most of the graphite used in lithium-ion batteries is mined and is not pure enough to be used directly in batteries. It also requires washing in acid to remove contaminating metals, leading to an environmentally damaging waste stream. To create an alternative, researchers in the Carbon Group at Curtin University have been working on producing graphite for batteries from, for instance, construction waste. Countries are investing billions in "green hydrogen" - hydrogen gas produced with renewable energy - which can be used as an energy store. But there are vanishingly small amounts of naturally occurring hydrogen gas here on Earth. This is because hydrogen likes to bond with oxygen to form water. To make green hydrogen, electrical energy from renewables splits the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen in a device called an electrolyser.