Meet Yuki Yamada — Building better batteries

I’m Yuki Yamada, a lecturer at the Yamada-Okubo Laboratory in The University of Tokyo. I study electro-chemistry and it’s principle application is lithium- ion batteries or rechargeable batteries. You use lithium-ion batteries every day in smartphones, in laptops and even cars. But there are many problems with lithium-ion batteries. For example the energy density, the longevity and also the safety.

00:32 - The purpose of my research is to make a new battery system that can safely store a large amount of energy. Rechargeable batteries are composed of electrodes and electrolyte. The electrodes store charge, and the electrolyte transports the charge. And they together power the electronic device. When I was a high school student I liked chemistry the best. So I decided to major in chemistry at university. Also I was interested in the energy problem. So I wanted to be a researcher to challenge this problem. The most exciting moment of my career was… …I worked with my student to discover a new aqueous electrolyte. This water-based electrolyte is safe because it is not flammable, so we can make a safer battery.

01:22 - I always work with many students and they work hard to do experiments. My name is Wenting Chen, I study organic electrolytes. I help to synthesize the organic electrolytes, and help to do the battery tests. I’m Seongjae Ko, I’m studying new electrodes and electrolyte material. I help to synthesize those kinds of materials, and to assemble the batteries The electrolyte for commercial lithium-ion batteries has been almost unchanged over 20 years. So there is large room for improvement.

01:57 - The electrolyte is composed of salt and solvent and we find that the concentration of salt is very important. The most interesting feature of the concentrated electrolyte is stability against high voltage. Better batteries will be a key technology for portable devices and electric vehicles. It is also useful for mass energy storage. So we can utilize unstable renewable energy such as solar power. So I can imagine that we will all have a home energy storage system for a household in the future. This means we can use energy more efficiently. Also, if the power goes out during a disaster… …we can continue to use electricity for several days or weeks. .