Lithium batteries were created in 1985 and their commercial version began to be sold in 1991. Since then, they have revolutionized the lives of all human beings by being part of the technological advances that contributed to the development and expansion of wireless communication around the world. They are also instrumental in reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing electrical energy storage capacity.
Around the world, lithium-ion batteries are improving people's lives because their technology makes it easier to carry out everyday processes such as listening to music, studying, working and communicating remotely. Without them, nothing would be the same as we know it today. So important have the benefits of lithium batteries been for humanity that their creators, John B. Goodenough, Akira Yoshino and Stanley Whittingham won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The Nobel Prize for the creators of lithium batteries was more than deserved.it all started in the 1970s, when Stanley Whittingham was researching ways to wean energy technologies off their dependence on fossil fuels. While examining superconductors, he found titanium disulfide, an energy-rich material with which he created a cathode in a lithium battery, while the anode was partially made of lithium metal, a material with a strong drive to release electrons.
That discovery resulted in a battery with high potential (over two volts), but very explosive, making it unsafe. Goodenough then continued the search for a more suitable cathode, and in 1980 used cobalt oxide, with which up to four volts could be produced, a breakthrough that would allow the creation of more powerful batteries.
In 1985, Akira Yoshiko created the first commercial lithium-ion battery. His discovery was based on earlier findings by German-American physicist John B. Goodenough and British-American chemist Stanley Whittingham. Yoshiko used the cathode discovered by Goodenough as a base and used petroleum coke (a material that can intercalate lithium ions) as an anode, resulting in a lightweight and, above all, highly resistant battery that can be recharged hundreds of times, as the lithium ions flow back and forth between the cathode and anode.
Yoshiko's lithium-ion battery proved to be safe and functional for storing electrical energy. Since then, the use of lithium batteries in the storage of electrical energy has advanced rapidly and today they are not only used in portable electronic devices or cell phones, but are also essential in the development of electric cars and for the storage of electrical energy for companies, businesses, government agencies, among others. They are also a great complement to renewable sources such as wind and solar energy.
Electricity is vital for the development of societies and without batteries it is not possible to use it efficiently. For this reason, energy storage systems in lithium-ion batteries such as Quartux's are platforms that take advantage of the capacity of these batteries to store electrical energy, in addition to having a software with artificial intelligence that allows managing energy consumption and administering charge and discharge cycles in real time.
Lithium-ion batteries such as those used by the Quartux platform (a leading Mexican company in the electric energy storage sector) have become one of the most important discoveries of mankind. These batteries are part of a new model of sustainable development, have a useful life of approximately 20 years and, thanks to advances in the industry, their costs have been considerably reduced in recent years.
Quartux has positioned itself as the ideal option to ensure that the use and exploitation of energy is much more durable, without waste, high costs or damage to the environment. The installation of its platform generates savings of up to 40% in electricity bill costs and reduces carbon dioxide emissions. With more than 100,000 hours of operation, it has achieved a reduction of more than 2,200 kW for each Mw avoided.
This innovative company is present in more than 10 states and has a team of 120 engineers highly specialized in the energy sector. Its systems are designed based on the needs of each client and have been installed both in the public sector, for agencies with high energy consumption, and in the private sector, in industries such as textiles, manufacturing, shopping centers, pharmaceuticals, and the hotel sector, among others.
Portal photo: Kristoferb, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
