Preliminary Results for Graphene Aerogel Battery Tests

Preliminary Results for Graphene Aerogel Battery Tests
ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd and its research partner, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt are pleased to report on additional encouraging results from their battery development program led by Dr. Lukas Bichler and his team at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus (UBC-O). For more information see the IDTechEx reports on Graphene, 2D Materials and Carbon Nanotubes: Markets, Technologies and Opportunities 2019-2029 and Flexible, Printed and Thin Film Batteries 2019-2029.
 
UBC-O has created a Graphene Aerogel composite anode material using a proprietary aerogel formulation containing doping with either ZEN's reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) or Graphene (produced via ZEN's licensed process announced in the company's May 30, 2019 news release). Preliminary results indicate that relatively low loadings (<5 wt.%) of graphene-based material, combined with this proprietary aerogel structure, can result in an anode with a significant specific discharge capacity. Preliminary best results were achieved with a 2 wt.% loading of Graphene dispersed in aerogel and resulted in an initial specific discharge capacity of 2800 mAh/g and a discharge capacity of 1300 mAh/g after 50 cycles at a current capacity of 186 mA/g. These unoptimized results are believed to be better than those currently reported in the literature for Graphene Aerogel batteries. DLR and ZEN will present a poster of the battery results at the Batterieforum in Berlin, Germany in January 2020. Graphene-containing aerogels could have the potential to be a low-cost, low-weight, high-performance composite materials for near future energy storage applications.
 
DLR has applied for and received federal funding from the Helmholtz Association to create a new Helmholtz Innovation Lab, called ZAIT, or the Center for Aerogels in Industry and Technology, which will be working together with industrial partners on the development of Aerogels. ZEN supported this application with a letter of intent indicating the Company would continue to collaborate with DLR in developing graphene-based aerogel batteries and other graphene-based products.
 
"Our work with the team at DLR has led to very promising research and we look forward to continuing this research both at UBC-O and within the new Center for Aerogels in Industry and Technology (ZAIT), a Helmholtz Innovation Lab" commented ZEN CEO Dr. Francis Dubé. Also, Dr. Bichler indicated that "this partnership brings together expertise from Canada and Germany to jointly develop high-tech energy storage systems, which are currently not available on the market."
 
Source and top image: ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd