Although smartphones’ functions are advancing every day, such as iris and facial scan, smart personal assistant using voice, the battery system does not seem to catch up. As an increase of battery consumption is proportional to functionality, the demand for a rapidly rechargeable battery is constantly growing. In the case of lithium ion batteries, as they are widely used in smartphones, laptops, and electric motored cars, the corresponding research is actively progressing.
Professor Lee Jin-woo (CE) and Jo Chang-sin’s research team succeeded in simply synthesizing hierarchical porous inorganic materials and used this to create electrodes that can be applied to lithium ion secondary batteries. Published in Advanced Materials, the research demonstrated high functionality of charging 75% of a battery in six minutes.
Depending on the size, pore in a material is classified into micro pore (<2nm), meso pore (2~50nm), macro pore (>50nm). Hierarchical porosity refers to the material structure containing more than two aforementioned pores.
“Hierarchical porous inorganic material has many advantages as energy electrodes, but have not attained the spotlight because it is difficult to be synthesized”, said Prof. Lee. “Further research is expected to enhance the efficiency of not only lithium ion but other various cells.”