The energy storage market is booming. For both current lithium-ion batteries and new advanced forms, significant investment and innovation is prevalent across the supply chain. Graphene, the ultra-conductive super-strong highly-versatile wonder material, appeared like a natural partner to the requirements of this growing industry, but owing to its commercial infancy a low initial adoption has been observed to date. This is set to change.
The IDTechEx Show! is the leading event on emerging technology and holds 2-day conference tracks on both graphene and energy storage. This article will highlight some of the key topics addressed for graphene in LiB electrode advancement, post-LiB chemistry changes, supercapacitors, and thermal dissipation.
Many graphene manufacturers will highlight the role graphene or graphene oxide can play in advancing current lithium-ion batteries. The manufacturers see a large potential with most citing the electric vehicle market as their core aim, a selection of highlighted speakers include:
- Talga Resources are a provider of nanoplatelets and will talk on "Unlocking Graphene Potential Through Integrated Products" with a view to energy storage.
- Global Graphene Group are one of the most experienced graphene companies and will present on "From Graphene To Graphene-Enabled Batteries For EV Application: A 17-Year Journey"
- Nanotech Energy are a younger graphene entrant, but with great promise for the energy storage sector through "Unlocking The Potential Of Graphene"
- William Blythe will take an even deeper look into their work in "Realising The Potential Of Graphene And Other Advanced Materials In Battery Anode Design"
- JMC with Cornell University have a longstanding collaboration and will present on the "Application Of Graphene Oxides For Energy Storage"
Other notable graphene manufacturers are also on display - Standard Graphene, NanoXplore, NTherma and more, as well as players producing other variants of advanced carbons such as OCSiAl and Cabot Corporation.
Specific targets for future developments will also be seen across the show:
- Silicon anodes - NanoGraf (formerly SiNode) will be talking on "Advanced Silicon-Graphene Anode Materials For High Energy Applications"
- Li-S battery - Graphene Batteries, partnered with Abalonyx, will present on "Graphene Enhanced Lithium Sulfur Batteries"
- Supercapacitors - ZapGo will talk about "Electric And Autonomous Vehicles That Perform And Cost The Same As Combustion Engine Vehicles using their Carbon-ion technology"
There is also the role of thermal dissipation, the importance for energy storage performance is often overlooked, that graphene can assist. Targeted talks from the likes of NeoGraf Solutions will highlight these opportunities.
Finally, the embryonic research will be analysed. A session dedicated to providing a comprehensive graphene overview from academia is a new part of this 2-day event. Amongst others, this includes a session from Prof Emmanuel Kymakis, Hellenic Mediterranean University on energy devices with both graphene and other 2D materials.
This event runs from 20-21 November in Santa Clara, USA, and is not to be missed. Conference attendees get complete access to all the tracks and the extensive exhibition trade floor.
