Toyota researchers develop a nifty hack to bring back dying batteries

Aging batteries are one of the biggest reasons for the mounting electronic waste across the globe. Increased electrification along with the rapid adoption of electric vehicles is going to further escalate this problem in the coming years. While there are ways to recycle old and degenerated batteries, the technology used for it is expensive, and consumes a lot of time and energy. But now, a new report says that researchers at Toyota have developed a new way that tackles the issue of e-waste or electronic waste by elongating the overall battery life of the aging batteries.

How do Toyota researchers plan to resurrect dying batteries?

Toyota researchers have developed a chemical injection that boosts the battery capacity of dying batteries thereby increasing their battery life and reducing the e-waste. Think of it as a magic potion that adds years to your life.

As the researchers explained in their research paper, there are mainly two ways in which the capacity of Lithium -ion batteries, which is commonly used in EVs and devices such as smartphones and laptops, deteriorates. First in the physical damage to the battery. These batteries cannot be fixed and need to be recycled. The second one is the loss of carrier ions, which reduced the ability of the battery to hold charge. For cases where the battery capacity reduces due to loss in carrier ions, researchers developed a solution called ‘recovery agency’ that is injected into the cells of the degraded batteries. This recovery agency triggers a chemical reaction that produced more lithium ions and electrons, enabling the battery to store charge.

Image: 50 Joule

How effective is this method?

Using this technique, researchers were able to restore the battery life of not just smaller batteries but also larger batteries. The research paper shows that the recovery agent improved the battery life of smaller batteries by up to 80 percent and large cell batteries by around 75.3 percent. What’s more? With this technique, they were also able to maintain the overall performance of the battery for 100 charging and discharging cycles.

But why should I care?

This research could have major implications especially at a time when e-waste is mounting. This technique could not only improve the battery life of smaller devices but also EVs in the longer run. Additionally, it would reduce e-waste and save buyers lakhs of rupees.