05 Sci-Tech

Go to Article
Excerpt from www.independent.co.uk

Lithium discovery hails new era of cheaper and more environmentally friendly electric cars

A new method to extract lithium in a more environmentally friendly and efficient way could have profound implications for the electric vehicle industry, according to researchers.

Global production of lithium – an essential mineral for manufacturing the lithium-ion batteries that are found in everything from smartphones to electric cars – has tripled over the last 10 years, however current extraction techniques are slow and energy intensive.

These methods also require the lithium to be highly concentrated in the rock ore, meaning only a few countries have deposits worth mining.

A team of researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have now come up with a way to extract lithium in a manner that they claim can overcome all of these issues.

The new method is so effective that it can extract lithium from sources that have been previously impossible on a commercial scale, such as seawater and groundwater.

“Right now there is a gap between the demand for lithium and the production,” said Chong Liu, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago PME.

Scientists out of Clemson University have developed a self-extinguishing electrolyte they think can be the cure for battery fires. With the expected rise in EV sales, the discovery couldn’t come soon enough. The researchers developed their electrolyte off of the same materials found in commercial fire extinguishers. The electrolyte is compatible with the most common battery chemistry, Li-ion, but is also compatible with other major variations as well.

Go to Article
Excerpt from www.autoevolution.com

Battery fires are rare, but when they happen, they require enormous amounts of firefighting resources. The problem is caused by the flammable electrolyte, which can generate its own oxygen in a thermal runaway reaction. Scientists at Clemson University think their self-extinguishing electrolyte can make battery fires a thing of the past.

Battery-electric vehicles are our best bet in fighting climate change and reducing pollution in big cities. Modern EVs use lithium-ion batteries, which offer the highest energy density and a relatively long lifecycle. However, most Li-ion battery cells can be dangerous when they overheat, requiring complex thermal management systems. Because they use highly flammable electrolytes, they can burst into flames if the heat is not kept in check.This is called thermal runaway, although, from the outside, it looks more like an explosion or a rocket firing its engines. Because EV batteries are made of thousands of individual cells, the process affects adjacent cells unless it’s stopped. To make matters worse, the blazing cells generate their own oxygen, making the fire very difficult to put out. The reaction continues as long as the temperature is high enough or the electrolyte depletes. This is why firefighters dealing with an EV battery fire focus on cooling the battery pack.

Researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina thought that inventing an electrolyte that doesn’t catch fire is the simplest way to prevent battery fires. One that can put out its own fire is even better. So, instead of a common electrolyte, usually composed of a lithium salt and an organic solvent, they developed one based on materials found in a commercial fire extinguisher.

The revolutionary electrolyte works across a wide temperature range from about minus 100 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 75 to 80 degrees Celsius). During the nail penetration test, the batteries produced in the lab with this flame-retardant electrolyte extinguished internal fires effectively. Moreover, the electrolyte is compatible with other chemistries besides Li-ion, including potassium-ion, sodium-ion, aluminum-ion, and zinc-ion.

Professors Lawrence M. Cathles and Adam C. Simon have released a report claiming the expected and mandated expanding Electric Vehicle (EV) market will soon outstrip the available supply of copper. The solution the report offers is to lower the EV benchmarks and replace that EV production with hybrid car production.

The report claims “Hybrid electric vehicles could have almost as large an impact on reducing CO2 emissions and city pollution, and the likelihood of the copper required for their manufacture being available is much greater. This is not a perfect solution, but it is a much more resource-realistic one.”

Go to Article
Excerpt from www.roadandtrack.com

Penning a report called Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification, Professors Lawrence M. Cathles and Adam C. Simon claim that a key mineral in EV production, copper, isn’t being mined at a strong enough rate to support long-term EV sales goals.

Cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel are all essential to electrification in their own ways, but copper fulfills a particularly important responsibility in the production of EVs. Found in everything from the electric motors, batteries, inverters, and the wiring of an electric car as well as in the charging stations themselves, copper is attractive for electrification due to its ability to conduct heat, resist corrosion, and relatively low cost of production.

The Copper Development Association says that each electric vehicle can have up to a mile of copper inside of it. Similarly, the report notes that the manufacturing process of an EV uses around 132 pounds of copper, as compared to 52 pounds of copper used to produce an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle.

Go to Article
Excerpt from www.livescience.com

‘Master of deception’: Current AI models already have the capacity to expertly manipulate and deceive humans

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems’ ability to manipulate and deceive humans could lead them to defraud people, tamper with election results and eventually go rogue, researchers have warned.

Peter S. Park, a postdoctoral fellow in AI existential safety at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and researchers have found that many popular AI systems — even those designed to be honest and useful digital companions — are already capable of deceiving humans, which could have huge consequences for society.

In an article published May 10 in the journal Patterns, Park and his colleagues analyzed dozens of empirical studies on how AI systems fuel and disseminate misinformation using “learned deception.” This occurs when manipulation and deception skills are systematically acquired by AI technologies.