Ultra Battery Activities
ACTIVITY 1
View the Symposium Presentation ‘Ultra-Batteries: From Research to Application’ and answer the following questions
1. Lithium ion battery technology is an established technology that has been used for the last 30 years. What are the main components that make up a battery?
2. What important role does the electrolyte have as part of a battery?
3. In prototyping Lithium-ion ultra-batteries testing occurs to test charge/discharge, lifetime, rate capability and safety of specific materials used to create. Discharge capacity is number of electrons that you can utilise from a single discharge or how long the battery will run. How much energy is in the cell is the Capacity X Voltage, so the higher the voltage of the cell the more energy it can provide.
Referring to the below graph, which battery can provide more energy and so will run the longest? Explain using data.
4. The graph to the left shows the rate of capacity loss of a battery subjected to different conditions such as voltage, temperature and discharge rate.
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Which one of these conditions affects the rate of capacity fade/loss the most? Explain using evidence from the graph.
5. Next generation batteries are being created with Ionic Liquid Electrolytes rather than conventional electrolytes due to the reactivity of lithium metals. What are some of the benefits in using these ionic liquid electrolytes?
ACTIVITY 2
XPLORLABS Portable Electric Power Module will be used in this activity and is designed to provide you with the understanding of the extensive use of lithium-ion batteries in your daily lives, along with the risks and challenges posed by the widespread use of these batteries, so that they can develop new designs.
PORTABLE ELECTRICAL POWER
https://ulxplorlabs.org/portable-electrical-power/
Preliminary activity:
Explore the module using the link above. Work through the Interactive video and Extreme Testing experience (60 minutes)
Hands on Classroom Investigations:
Complete at least one of the following investigations downloading the Student Document, undertaking the experiment and answering the questions provided. Investigation 3 must follow on from investigation 2.
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The Bologna Test
In this activity you will use Bologna/Salami or other similar processed meat, saline and a button cell battery to demonstrate what happens when a child swallows a button cell battery and it gets stuck in her/his throat.
Hoverboard Design Challenge
2. Tensile Test and Durability
In this activity you will select and test materials to determine the best performance in durability (tensile strength) and design and construct an enclosure based on the constraints of these challenges. You will discover which materials have what it takes to protect a battery pack from the outside world and the outside world from the battery pack’s heat.
3. Thermal Test
You will conduct thermal testing of your battery pack enclosure that keeps the battery and the hoverboard cool enough to avoid risk of thermal runaway. In this Investigation student groups will use their hoverboard enclosure with the battery pack installed as it was designed in Investigation 2 to determine if the heat transmission through the enclosure, as well as the heat generated inside the enclosure, meet safety standard requirements for thermal performance.
Reflection
1. What new understandings do you have about lithium-ion batteries in terms of the risks and hazards they may pose for people and the community?
2. What solutions do you propose to reduce the risks that lithium-ion batteries pose for the community?
a) Take a look at your devices at home that have lithium-ion batteries such as your cell phone or computer. What design features do they have to reduce the risks you identified in Question 1?
b) What are further safety measures you might take to ensure your safety in using devices that use lithium-ion batteries? Consider how you use and look after your devices.
4. Recently there have been issues with phones and electric cars catching fire as a result of battery defects. Research to find out what other issues there are surrounding the use of lithium-ion batteries.
Galvanic Cell Experiment
An electrochemical cell that gains energy from a spontaneous redox reaction which occurs within, in other words batteries.
Galvanic cells or electrochemical cells use a chemical reaction to create electricity involving the transfer of electrons. This reaction is referred to as an oxidation/reduction or redox reaction. During discharge, an electrochemical cell such as a battery converts chemical energy to electrical energy via the spontaneous redox reactions which occurs within. All electrochemical cells are composed of two half cells. Oxidation occurs in one half cell and reduction in the other.
A half-cell must contain an electrode that is the electronic conductor and an electrolyte that contains the free moving ions that help maintain the balance of charge within each half cell. A cell (much like a battery) comprises two half cells, the contents of which do not mix; a piece of wire joining the electrodes to the half cells, which allows electron flow; a salt bridge to connect the solutions in the half cells. The salt bridge is to provide ions to compensate for those electrons gained or lost during the redox reactions in the half cells
Preliminary activity
Read through the experiment below and draw a labelled diagram of a cell (using two half-cells, two electrodes, wire/voltmeter.
The following links may be of help:
Instructions
Aim
To investigate the electrical current of a spontaneous redox chemical reaction via testing different metals to determine which gives off the highest current.
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Materials
Copper Metal strip​
Lead Metal strip
Zinc Metal Strip
Iron Metal Strip
20ml CuNO3
20ml ZnNO3
20ml Pb(NO3)2
20ml FeCl3
20ml KN03
Volt meter (with clips)
5 x 50ml beakers
Filter paper
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Steps
Per breaker fill in one solution
Cut filter paper into strips, need 4 strips
Soak filter paper strips into KNO3 solution
Place one end of a filter paper strip into the beaker of KNO3 and the other into the beaker of CuNO3
Repeat this with the other solutions
Ensure filter paper strips are not touching each other
Connect the volt meter clips to Copper metal strip and the other to Zinc metal strip and place in corresponding solution
Record results
Repeat step 7 with each metal strip always making sure the metal is only in its corresponding solution
Results Table (Include a meaningful title)
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Discussion Questions
1. In the diagram in the preliminary activity label the positive and negative electrodes, mark the direction of the electron flow and label the anode and cathode.
2. Referring to your results, which combinations of ionic solutions and metals produced the highest voltage?
3. Why is a lithium-ion battery considered a galvanic cell?
