Large-scale battery systems are essential for efficiently utilizing renewable energy power sources from solar and wind, which can generate electricity only intermittently. The use of lithiumion batteries (LIB) to store the generated energy is one solution. A long cycle life is critical for LIB when used in these applications.
Together with an industry partner, we demonstrate a novel cathode material with estimated capacity retention of 25,000 cycles that corresponds to a 70- year lifetime with a daily charge/discharge cycle. The material with a lifetime six times longer than the conventional one is found by exploring a wide chemical composition space using computers. The targeted material is successfully synthesized by an elaborate chemical route and shows excellent cycle-life performance as lithium-ion battery cathodes.

Isao Tanaka, PhD

Professor,
Graduate School of Engineering