#graphene

The Quest for the Million Mile EV Battery is Heating Up

09/22/2020 by Amy Maggart Leave a Comment

Today is Tesla’s first annual Battery Day. It’s a day to focus on EV technology and what’s next in advancing it towards widespread consumer adoption. We’ve been focusing on how to maximize today’s EV batteries to make them high density, quick charge, affordable and safe for years. At Global Graphene Group, we know that EVs are the future, and our drop-in graphene-enhanced solutions can help EV manufacturers improve their battery function, today.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, tweeted yesterday that today’s Battery Day announcements will include news on long-term manufacturing of EV’s, including semis, cybertrucks and a roadster.

A leak surfaced recently that a larger cell will be announced during today’s Battery Day. The rumored 4070 cell would be used in batteries for electric semi and cybertrucks. No matter which size the battery cell will be, the heat dissipation will be a more serious problem than the current 2170 cell because heat will need to travel at least twice the distance from the core of the cell.

Heat can be a big spoiler for the EV batteries companies like Tesla are banking on. Heat builds up when batteries are super charged and under continuous driving conditions. That’s exactly what online leaks suggest Tesla has planned with batteries for semi and cybertrucks. While it makes sense to prioritize these types of vehicles in terms of their environmental impact, having delivery trucks and freight carriers with massive batteries driving continuously add up to a potential power disaster.

There’s already evidence of EV batteries losing their power density and becoming unsafe in high heat areas – think Arizona, Texas, Nevada and other areas of the country that tend to heat up. In some of these areas, they experience more than five days per year with temperatures climbing over 100°F. Much of the country experiences temperatures above 80°F throughout the summer months. Those high temps can decrease the battery life dramatically. Lithium-ion batteries have a decreased lifespan under high and continuous heat situations. Vehicles that are heavily used throughout the day with little break and ones driving in tropical weather areas are affected.

Specifically, the corrosion reactions between the battery’s electrolyte and the current collector can be very serious above 113°F. And that is why many EV owners observed reduced charging current when their battery pack reached 113°F during fast-charging in order to prevent the damage. Research shows even just parking outside when the ambient temperature is above 90°F can permanently damage the EV battery. E-trucks are supposed to run for hours continuously every day which will damage the battery pack from heat more than passenger EVs.

So how to EV manufacturers mitigate the high heat issues for their batteries? Of course, a nice cooling system can solve this problem, but it also consumes the energy from the battery and thus shortens the mileage per charge. They could adjust the battery’s power during fast charging when the battery temperature hits the upper temperature limit. But some real data showed up to 50% more time will be needed for fast charging in hot climates, which is a negative for consumers. EV owners could park in the shade or avoid driving during hot days, but that’s not always possible.

While many consider solid-state batteries to be the “holy grail” of EV batteries, but they’re still years away from commercialization. At G³, we have developed a portfolio of graphene-enhanced battery solutions that bridge the gap between today’s lithium-ion batteries and tomorrow’s solid-state.

Our graphene-coated current collector performs much better than bare aluminum current collector, even at temperatures above 131° making it a good fit for military applications under extreme conditions. It would also benefit E-trucks and every EV that needs higher power and real fast-charging. The theory behind this is that HF generated from a chain reaction in electrolyte can damage the surface of the current collector in a Li-ion battery. The corrosion reaction will become more serious when temperatures or voltage are high.

G³‘s graphene-coated Al current collector solves this problem. We did an accelerated cycling test at 55°C between 4.0 and 4.3V, the voltage range the corrosion is serious. You can see that when commercial bare Al was used, the capacity dropped rapidly to <80% capacity retention within 50 cycles.

Our graphene-coated Al current collector can last over hundreds of cycles. 55°C might be considered as an extreme condition but actually the battery can reach this temperature fairly easily. Super-charging, parking under direct sunlight in summer or tropical areas, or continuously driving for hours will let the battery heat to over this temperature and damage the battery permanently. In the future, we will use this product in our cells to improve the cycle life, making it capable of high-power charge/discharge, and giving consumers worry-free parking for days of hot weather. Tesla and other EV OEMs can surely benefit from our graphene-coated current collector.

We’re ready to talk about our EV battery technology. Give us a call at 937-331-9884 or email [email protected] to schedule a time. Our drop-in solutions are ready now and will lower EV battery costs, increase their range and provide a safer battery. Widespread EV adoption is around the corner, and G³ is prepared to be part of the EV revolution.

Lightening Up Ships and Keeping Rust at Bay

09/14/2020 by Amy Maggart Leave a Comment

We rely on goods and products to be shipped around the world each day. Many of the items you purchase may have come from another country, sending weeks or more at sea on their way to your door. There are over 50,000 cargo ships around the world. We rely on these ships to bring our goods from other countries, and to ship our products abroad. Keeping the ships in great shape is a priority. And one of the biggest problems that plague ships is corrosion.

Anti-corrosion coatings are key to ships to limit the damage done to ships. Corrosion takes place from the combination of high moisture and salt-laden sea spray, both of which directly attack the steel of the ship’s hull. Cargo ships can take upwards of a few million gallons of paint to properly coat their hull. Parts of the ship above the waterline will generally get three coats while those below get seven. To keep it in perspective, one gallon of paint cover 400 square feet. The layers of paint on the ships add to the ships’ weight, which means it must reduce the onboard weight. And these ships need to be repainted every few years, leading companies to spend billions of dollars per year.

Graphene has amazing anti-corrosion properties. A small amount of graphene added to paint can dramatically increase the ship’s anti-corrosion resistance. And the graphene-enhanced paint can extend the coating’s life, taking the lifespan of the paint and extending it to 10 or more years between coatings. That’s a cost savings in terms of the man hours it takes to recoat a vessel and the amount of paint it needs to purchase. In addition, the graphene-enhanced pain reduces the coating weight by 50-60%, allowing for more equipment to be onboard the ship.

Another plus of using graphene-enhanced paint is a reduction in zinc dust in the paint. Zinc dust is typically used in paints to for anti-corrosion. And zinc dust is a known carcinogen. By replacing the zinc dust with graphene, the paint is safer for people.

Graphene-enhanced coatings allow less paint to be needed for covering ships. It reduces the weight of the coatings and increases its anti-corrosion properties. The graphene-enhanced paint is more sustainable, lasting upwards of 10 years between recoats. And it is safer for people’s health with less zinc dust being added to the paint mixture.

Graphene Gets You Airborne Faster

08/25/2020 by Amy Maggart Leave a Comment

Have you ever flown in the middle of winter? If you live in or have traveled to areas where snow and ice are the norm during the winter months, you’ve probably spent some time sitting in your seat on an airplane, waiting possibly hours for the plane to be de-iced and ready to take flight. It’s a pain for you, the traveler, and a major pain for the airlines, as it keeps planes on the ground longer and uses chemicals to defrost the plane.

Global Graphene Group is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation. The Wright Brothers built their first airplane and tested it in Dayton. We’re very proud of our aviation heritage. And graphene can have a positive impact on the aerospace industry and the environment. At G3, our team of experts have created thermal films with graphene that can sustainably de-ice airplane windows and wings. Currently, airlines use harsh chemicals and hardware that can go haywire to de-ice. It can take up to an hour and a half to de-ice a typical 747. More extensive snow and ice may involve a truck to spray the plane down with chemicals, which costs more and takes longer. But by adding a thin layer of our graphene-infused thermal film to an airplane’s windows and wings, planes can leverage graphene’s inherent electric conductivity to heat up the windows and wings of the plane. Airplanes will be able to take off in no time, and passengers will be getting where they need to go sooner.

Our thermal film, when added to airplanes, removes the need for chemicals to be used to de-ice the plane. The film keeps those chemicals from running off into our water streams, negatively impacting the environment. Our thermal film also lowers the cost of maintenance on planes by eliminating the hardware needed to manage the chemicals they currently use to de-ice. Airlines are able to de-ice their planes quickly, dramatically decreasing the downtime they currently use.

Give us a call at 937-331-9884 or email ([email protected]) and let’s talk about how graphene can help the aerospace industry be more of a steward to the environment.

Challenge: Build a Structure Using Half the Material.

08/03/2020 by Amy Maggart Leave a Comment

Have you ever been asked to do more with less? It seems like we’re asked to do more and more with fewer and fewer resources. Use less money, less time, less materials. It’s a difficult task to achieve, especially when thinking in terms of how your actions impact the environment.

When we look at the biggest offenders to the environment in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, concrete is towards the top of the list. Everything from creating the concrete, transporting it and the amount needed to build a structure – it’s all a LOT! Concrete is second only to water as the most-consumer resource on Earth. Concrete is the source of about 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions.

We can’t get away from using concrete. It’s an affordable building material that delivers structural strength and durability. Most buildings are made from it. What we CAN do to help lessen concrete’s environmental impact is make it more responsibly.

Not to mention the regulatory aspect of using concrete… According to this Forbes article, “Under a business-as-usual scenario, the cement company could expect to emit 120 units of GHGs. In the long-term, the goal is for the manufacturer to find ways of producing cement without emitting as many GHGs; to meet its regulatory burden in the short-term, it will need to buy carbon offsets to bring its emissions down to its mandate of 100 units.” Companies need ways to decrease the amount of carbon emissions used in their buildings to earn carbon credits.

Enter graphene.

Adding a small amount of graphene into concrete allows for a 33%+ reduction of material needed for the same load bearing structure. This reduces the amount of CO2 during formation and all the associated transportation. The installation and curing times required are shortened, significantly reducing CO2. Installation and logistics costs are decreased.

Graphene-infused concrete lowers the amount of concrete needed while making the building stronger and more durable. This gives companies more carbon credits for using less material in their structure. Graphene-infused concrete is four times more water resistant and twice as strong as concrete alone.

Reinforce graphene concrete is more environmentally friendly and sustainable. It lowers the amount of maintenance needed on the structure in the long-term, ultimately saving money. It’s a win-win for the company and the environment.

Want more information on our graphene-infused concrete solutions? Contact us at [email protected].

EV Adoption is Sooner than You Think

07/27/2020 by Amy Maggart Leave a Comment

Years ago, Hanna-Barbera would have us think that we’d be living in 2020 driving flying cars. George Jetson zipped off to Spacely Sprockets for work in his flying car and made the idea of crazy advanced transportation being accessible to everyday people seem possible. All these years later, we’re still driving our gas guzzlers, but there are electric vehicles on the roads today. (Yes, we don’t have flying cars, yet…)

Electric vehicles are still in their early stages of adoption, especially in the US. 2019 EV sales in the US totaled 330,000. However, US EV sales account for only 2.2% market share. There is still major room for growth in the automotive sector for electric vehicles.

There are several factors for why EV’s have been slow to take off:

EV’s are expensive.
EV battery’s take long to recharge.
EV battery’s pose safety risks, with many accounts of EV’s catching fire.

Our Global Graphene Group headquarters of Dayton, Ohio, USA, is a Midwestern city known for its extraordinary innovation history. (Everyone has heard of the founders of flight, the Wright Brothers, right?) We have a population of around 800,000 in the metro area. We are situated along several large interstate highways, with gas stations always nearby. There are 82 charging stations in a 15 km radius of Dayton. That’s a far cry from the hundreds of traditional gas stations dotted around the region. Seventy-nine percent of the EV charging stations are free to use. Most charging stations have one or two available slots, meaning you may be forced to wait your turn to charge up your car. We’re used to quickly fueling up and going on our way. Who has time to wait 30 or more minutes to recharge their car?

Electric vehicles are the future and graphene helps that future become a reality now. Global Graphene Group’s experts have developed and tested graphene-enabled battery technology that is proven to allow EVs to:

Run for 1 million miles without replacing the battery
Drive for more than 500 miles on a single charge
Cost 40% less than current EV batteries
Recharge in 2-6 minutes
Be 100% safe from flammability problems

With G³’s innovative battery solutions, EVs will become less expensive. Consumers will trust that their electric vehicle won’t catch fire in their garage while recharging. Longer road trips will be possible without the need to find an out of the way charging station as your EV will able to go further on a single charge. Suddenly, an electric vehicle becomes transportation that people can easily fit into their lifestyle. And that’s when EVs will be more adopted and explode in popularity. Graphene is the key to making electric vehicles safer, cost-effective and more sustainable.

Want more information on our graphene-enabled battery solutions? Contact us at [email protected].

Next Generation Graphene Technology – Today

04/02/2020 by The Global Graphene Group Leave a Comment

“The sample (Graphene/Sulfur Composite) is the best one we have ever tested.”

“(We’ve) tried other graphene suppliers and found that G³ is the only supplier that offers single layer graphene oxide that works best for their application.”

Graphene is known as the “wonder material,” and major OEMs are turning to Global Graphene Group (G³) to help them improve their product offering. From EV battery solutions to thermal management products, graphene can improve automobiles performance and durability.

G³ knows graphene – our co-founder, Dr. Bor Jang, filed the first patent on graphene in 2002. We’re the market leader in mass producing graphene and graphene-enhanced products. And we’ve worked with many of the major OEM’s to solve their energy storage and thermal management problems. Automotive manufacturers are teed up to leverage graphene’s benefits.

A challenge for OEMs is EV battery capabilities. Current EV batteries are expensive, and limited in their mileage per charge, their energy density, their battery life, their safety and their recharge time. For example, a major EV passenger car has a battery pack with ~250 Wh/kg of energy density, takes over 30 minutes to charge just to 80% and costs about $120/kWh.

G³’s EV battery solutions can solve these problems:

Drive for 1,000 km on one charge
Run for 1 million km without replacing batteries
Resistant to fire/explosion hazards
Recharge within 5-15 minutes
Low-cost (< $100/kWh)

“Our EV products are truly game changers,” said Dr. Aruna Zhamu, President of Honeycomb Battery Company, a subsidiary of G³. “We can help EV vehicles stay on the road longer, make them more affordable and make sure they’re safe.”

Another area OEMs are focused on is heat management. G³’s thermal heat spreaders are drop-in solutions made of single layer graphene and are highly engineered to achieve a variety of thickness needs for different applications, like display screens. They’re easy to handle and die cut into many shapes, making them a nice replacement of thermal paste product to avoid messiness and improve process convenience. Durable and stable, our heat spreaders are long-lasting at temperature range of -40 to 400^oC.

Graphene thermal coating material has many beneficial characteristics: high temperature resistance, fast rate of heat spreading, high thermal conductivity, high heat radiation, insulation, corrosion resistance, and resistance to strong acids and alkalis. G³‘s graphene thermal coatings are specifically designed for use with radiant, bulk heat source. And, with its adhesion and processing properties, G³’s thermal coatings are suitable for a wide range of applications.

G³has developed a series of graphene-based composites for heat dissipation purposes. Sample testing trends show both tensile strength and thermal conductivity are improved as the concentration of graphene in the composite increases. It is a perfect solution for casing applications to housing power modules and battery packs. G³ prepares masterbatches for customers with maximum graphene concentration.

“Our graphene-enhanced thermal solutions have so many applications for OEMs,” said Adam Quirk, President of Taiwan Graphene Company, a subsidiary of G³. “It’s amazing what graphene can accomplish. We’re excited to partner with our customers on their next generation products.”

The Quest for the Million Mile EV Battery is Heating Up

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