She believes that by looking at the two aspects that influence the battery, namely power density, and energy density, it is possible to overcome the long-standing problem of batteries.

"In reviewing battery performance, there are two aspects: power density and energy density. Power density is the ability of battery speed in delivering energy, while the energy density is the amount of energy that the battery can store," she said when she became one of the speakers at the Intelligent Transport System Webinar event on Wednesday (11/17/2021).

Before explaining the solution to this problem, she explained that the battery is a set of tools consisting of cathodes, anodes, electrolyte solutions, and separators. A cathode is a metal oxide that usually contains raw lithium materials, while anodes are metal compounds traditionally made of carbon. In its application, batteries that use lithium as a raw material for making cathodes lack high energy capacity, so it became ineffective when used as an energy source in electric cars because of its relatively small mileage. Therefore, Afriyanti and other researchers proposed nickel as a raw replacement for battery cathodes.

Nickel is one of the elements that has advantages in producing high energy capacity due to the reduction/oxidization reaction. However, nickel is unstable, so it requires the help of other elements in the manufacturing process. In this case, Afriyanti and teams chose Mn and Co as complementary elements of cathode manufacturing raw materials because of their stable nature to overcome the problems faced by nickel.

"The positive side of nickel is the oxygen reduction reaction that can produce a high energy density. On the downside, this material is unstable, so the energy density produced will quickly drop, or in other words, the battery will quickly break down. Therefore, Co and Mn elements are needed to maintain the stability of the structure," she explained.

As a result of each element's positive and negative side, the manufacture of the cathode with this raw material requires a precise composition so that the resulting product has good quality. Until now, the type of battery developed with this material has two kinds, namely NCA and NCM. Both types are classified based on the material elements used. For example, NCM is made of nickel, cobalt, and manganese.

At the end of her presentation, the ITB Lecturer in Material Engineering confirmed that the development of battery technology in the future would increase rapidly because the energy needs in the universe are pretty diverse. In addition, everyone on this earth must want a battery technology that is safe, durable, fast in charging, and of course, can be made at a relatively cheap cost.

"This battery technology will continue to grow because our need for energy is increasingly diverse in form. Here are the factors that will affect the development of battery technology, namely energy density, cost, safety, cycle life, and charge rate," she concluded.

Reporter: Nur Rama Adamas (Teknik Sipil, 2020)
Translator: Aghisna Syifa Rahmani (Biologi, 2020)