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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":696,"relatedVideos":697},112475229701681,"bd0d7368-db24-46df-88b2-cdf09c4cf856","Sony pushes to commercialise lithium sulphur batteries","sony-pushes-to-commercialise-lithium-sulphur-batteries","article/sony-pushes-to-commercialise-lithium-sulphur-batteries",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":550,"content":560,"excerpt":672,"featured":50,"reporter":673,"_editable":677,"component":678,"seo_title":543,"categories":679,"visibility":688,"author_company":49,"featured_image":689,"seo_description":672,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":694,"formattedArticleDate":695},"09d36068-d326-4640-a4c3-0a1a7ab81e66","2016-05-22 00:00",[],[551],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":554},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":555,"image":556,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":557},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":561,"content":562},"doc",[563,570,575,580,585,590,595,600,607,612,617,622,627,632,637,642,647,652,657,662,667],{"type":564,"attrs":565,"content":566},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[567],{"text":568,"type":569},"Sony Corp, the electronics producer that commercalised the lithium-ion battery in the early 1990s, is seeking to do the same for lithium sulphur chemistry.","text",{"type":564,"attrs":571,"content":572},{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":569},"It emerged in mid-December that the Japanese electronics conglomerate is looking to give its mobile phone manufacturing division an edge and sees batteries as providing that.",{"type":564,"attrs":576,"content":577},{"textAlign":49},[578],{"text":579,"type":569},"Rumours emerging from Japan claim that the group is seeking up to a 40% improvement on lithium-ion battery life by developing lithium sulphur to a commercial level by 2020.",{"type":564,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":569},"Lithium sulphur has a higher energy density than its lithium-ion counterpart but there has been major technical and cost issues prohibiting it from becoming the incumbent battery chemistry.",{"type":564,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":569},"“Theorectically lithium sulphur batteries look good,” explained advanced materials expert George Hawley to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.",{"type":564,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":569},"“But in practice the energy density is much lower [than stated],” he explained. Sony has also been working on magnesium sulphur batteries to tackle the long standing problem of battery life in mobile technology. A major issue for the company is to find a chemistry that best fits its two main battery-powered businesses – mobile phones and robotics.",{"type":564,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":569},"To date, lithium-ion is the best fit for all mobile devices but it is far from perfect, especially as the demands from mobile technology increase at a greater rate than battery improvements.",{"type":601,"attrs":602,"content":604},"heading",{"level":603,"textAlign":49},3,[605],{"text":606,"type":569},"What does this mean for lithium-ion?",{"type":564,"attrs":608,"content":609},{"textAlign":49},[610],{"text":611,"type":569},"In the short term, little to no change in the direction of the battery industry can be expected.",{"type":564,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":569},"Billions of dollars of investment are already committed to creating a global lithium-ion battery megafactory infrastructure that will serve the industry for the next decade. This will take the sector from megawatt to gigawatt scale in the next two years.",{"type":564,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":569},"However, with Sony seeking to break into to the market in 2020 with lithium suphur batteries, it is likely that significant traction could be made by 2022 and a new competitior for lithium-ion in the handheld, mobile technology space begins to emerge.",{"type":564,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":569},"For this to happen, some significant hurdles with battery raw materials must first be made. Graphite will be the first raw material to be impacted as the lithium sulphur chemistry utilises a lithium metal anode with a sulphur cathode.",{"type":564,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":569},"“Lithium sulphur cells have several problems. These can be overcome but only by the addition of expensive additives or manufacturing techniques,” explained Hawley.",{"type":564,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":569},"Expansion of sulphur in a battery, much like with silicon anodes, was highlighted as a major hurdle to overcome.",{"type":564,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":569},"“Sulphur expands by 80% when lithium ions are deposited on the cathode. The expansion and contraction during charge and discharge causes crumbling of the cathode,” Hawley said.",{"type":564,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":569},"“This can be overcome by encapsulating the sulphur in a flexible package,” he added.",{"type":564,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":569},"The low cost and avaliability of sulphur is also a positive for the technology as many industries producing battery raw materials are niche and small scale.",{"type":564,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655],{"text":656,"type":569},"Sulphur is produced as a byproduct of hydrocarbon production – which in itself is a juxtaposition to the clean energy markets batteries are trying to serve. However, it is very low cost – 70 times cheaper than lithium hydroxide on 2015 averages prices. Many producers see it as a waste product, and in times of oversupply, actually pay for it to be removed.",{"type":564,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":569},"On the lithium anode side, the metal can form dendrides which was also highlighted as a challenge for the new technology. This is a major safety issue for the battery as these dendrites can cause short curcuiting and ignition.",{"type":564,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":569},"This is particuarly hazardous for robots and electric vehicles.",{"type":564,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":569},"As more attention and investment converges on batteries, new technologies will be investigated and persued. While Benchmark believes lithium-ion is here to stay in the medium term, competition such as Sony’s lithium sulphur battery will emerge, especially in the mobile technology and utility storage space where there is more room for new competitors.","Sony Corp, the electronics producer that commercalised the lithium-ion battery in the early 1990s, is seeking to do the same for lithium sulphur chemistry. It emerged in mid-December that the Japanese electronics conglomerate is looking to give its mobile phone manufacturing division an edge and sees batteries as providing that. Rumours emerging from Japan claim […]",[674],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":675},{"job_title":555,"image":676,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},{"filename":557},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"09d36068-d326-4640-a4c3-0a1a7ab81e66\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[680,683,686],{"slug":681,"name":682},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":684,"name":685},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":687,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":690,"name":690,"focus":690,"title":690,"source":690,"filename":691,"copyright":690,"fieldtype":692,"meta_data":693,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/6cd6b1f554/bm-kazuo-hirai-back.jpg","asset",{"alt":690,"title":690,"source":690,"copyright":690},"May 22, 2016","22nd May 2016",[],[],1783529687625]