Abstract
Batteries for transportation now and in the future
Jean-Marie Tarascon, Professor, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens
Energy is the lifeblood of modern societies. Global warming, finite fossil-fuel supplies and city pollution conspire to make the use of renewable energy together with electric transportation a worldwide imperative. There is a pressing need to design electrical energy storage systems to balance supply with demands, as renewable sources are intermittent, and to power upcoming PHEVs or EVs. Numerous energy storage solutions enlisting mechanical, magnetic, chemical storage, etc. are being presently investigated. Therefore, as we want to store energy in order to restore it as electricity, the most attractive path is to convert chemical energy into electrical energy as they both share a common carrier namely the electron, hence the importance of batteries.
Batteries are a major technological challenge in this new century as they stand as a key way to make a more efficient use of energy. Li-ion batteries are strongly considered for electric transportation or for making the use of renewable energy easiest, on condition that improvements can be achieved in terms of safety. Moreover, another important issue linked to wide implementation of the Li-ion technology for large scale application deals with materials resources and abundances as well as with materials synthesis and recycling processes, which will inflict a heavy energy cost. Notions of materials having minimum footprint in nature made via eco-efficient processes must be integrated in our new research endeavors aiming towards the next generation of sustainable and “greener” Li-ion batteries.
The recent arrival of LiFePO4 electrodes, which are based on abundant chemical elements and which elaboration can be made, as it will be shown, via eco-efficient hydrothermal/solvothermal processes using either latent bases, structure directing templates or other bio-related approaches, is not a sufficient step forward towards the long-term demand for materials sustainability. In contrast, organic electrodes appear as ideal candidates as they can be synthesized via “Green Chemistry” from natural organic sources, are biodegradable and are not resource limited. We took a fresh look at organic-based electrodes, and the results, which have led to the possibility of using conjugated dicarboxylates anodes and oxocarbons positive electrodes for renewable Li-ion batteries, will be presented. Future research paths towards the design of better battery systems for the years to come will be discussed as well.