'Lithium-Air Battery' Lifespan Significantly Extended

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a material that can extend the lifespan of next-generation lithium-air batteries charged with oxygen from the air. The research team expects this to contribute to accelerating the commercialization of lithium-air batteries. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 1st that the joint research team, including Professor Junggoo Kang and Professor Kyungmin Choi from Sookmyung Women's University, published these research results in the international academic journal Advanced Science.

The research team developed a catalyst necessary to complement the drawbacks of lithium-air batteries and commercialize them. They confined cobalt hydroxide catalysts within the pores of a metal-organic framework (MOF) with countless holes, preventing the catalysts from agglomerating.

Lithium-air batteries are next-generation large-capacity batteries that can increase energy density up to 10 times compared to lithium-ion batteries. However, a major obstacle has been the rapid decrease in lifespan during repeated charging and discharging. Catalysts smaller than 1 nm tend to agglomerate, causing a sharp decline in performance. The research team confirmed that using this technology can extend the lifespan of lithium-air batteries by about three times compared to existing ones.

Professor Junggoo Kang explained, "The technology to simultaneously generate and stabilize atomic-level catalyst materials within the pores of metal-organic frameworks can be diversified depending on the hundreds of thousands of types of metal-organic frameworks and the catalysts implemented." He added, "This means not only the development of atomic-level catalysts but also the expansion into various material development research fields."