Gasoline Cars Will Be Ended Due to New Discovery from Korean Expert Researchers

Illustration of an electric car battery packaged in safe components and the charging process

KOMPUTER JADUL-, Researchers in the field of South Korean vehicle technology have successfully developed an electric car with a silicon battery, allowing it to travel up to 1,000 km on a single charge. This finding could end the era of spark-ignition cars powered by fuel.

Therefore, one of the main obstacles to the transition from gasoline-powered motor vehicles to electric vehicles is the question of distance. Limited battery capacity makes consumers very afraid to switch from fuel.

The focus of research by experts from Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea is silicon material.

Silicon material is widely studied for use in making batteries because it is abundantly available in various parts of the world. However, silicon also has several characteristics that make it problematic.

The size of the silicon element can increase up to three times when charged, then shrink back down. Therefore, most studies try to make batteries with silicon material in the form of nano particles that are very small in size.

The problem now is that the cost of producing nano particles is very expensive and the process is very complex.

Researchers from Pohang have a slightly different approach. Instead, they used silicon particles reduced by 1,000 times, namely on a micro scale. Elements of this size are easier and cheaper to produce with a more spacious energy density.

The researchers then looked for a solution to the problem of expanding and contracting silicon particles. They used a polymer electrolyte gel whose shape changes when the silicon element changes shape. This gel is then chemically bonded directly with radiation through the electron bombardment. The result is a stable bond even though the silicon particles still expand and contract.

In fact, the stability of the silicon battery made by the researchers is equivalent to a standard lithium-ion battery, with an energy density 40 percent greater.

"We use a micro-silicon anode, the result is still a stable battery. This research brings us closer to a high-energy-density lithium-ion battery system," said Park Soojin from Pohang University. The researchers said their battery design could be applied very easily.