There is the possibility to use recycled paper to shape more eco-sustainable and technologically excellent rechargeable batteries. This is claimed by Fabio Cervelli, engineer and scientific manager of the Top Form company, whose patents reflect the will to experiment batteries made with paper and aluminum, even recycled, which are more powerful and lighter than lithium-ion ones. With shorter charging times and the possibility of further reuse of materials.
Cervelli talked about it extensively on the Resto del Carlino. Here are his words: “Lithium is a resource now considered insufficient to move the future world car fleet converted to electric, it could already be in short supply by 2030 and still has significant problems. It suffers from the memory effect, has a not infinite number of recharge cycles, on electric cars they last from 6 to 8 years and already after 500 cycles they tend to be less performing. Even with the Fast columns, it takes at least 25 minutes to restart with a full tank, many for motorists used to “getting gasoline” in 5 minutes“. According to the engineer, its batteries would be three times more powerful or three times lighter, depending on the approach; and with a quarter of the size with the same power.
“They have an average duration in discharge and charge cycles at least double if compared to the best performing ones on the market today. In addition, fast charging at the Fast columns could be done in less than 10 minutes. Almost like today at the gas station. Recycled aluminum and paper on the market cost much less than lithium and other rare earths such as cobalt. They also have another great advantage, they are available everywhere because they are obtained from the separate collection of municipal waste from beverage cans, from cellulose packaging. Aluminum even from old photovoltaic panels contain up to 10% of their weight. Lithium, on the other hand, is extracted only in very few countries in the world, always putting the entire industrial chain at risk of rising prices. As happens in recent months with raw materials that are constantly increasing», Added Cervelli.
This is not an absolute novelty, in terms of general concept: on ResearchGate there is a paper created by Yunya Zhang, Xiaodong Li and Zan Gao, from 2017, in which the opportunity presented itself to use recycled paper fibers for batteries. Specifically, the opportunity, based on lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, was investigated to use recycled paper fibers together with graphene oxide sheets by means of a capillary adsorption method. The hybrid recycled paper / graphene oxide would have served for a sort of ‘sulfur infiltration’. “The assembled Li-APC / Graphene / S battery has a lifespan of over 620 cycles with an excellent capacity retention rate of 60.5%“, it is read.
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