{"id":312955,"date":"2025-12-23T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/?p=312955"},"modified":"2025-12-09T15:28:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:28:18","slug":"scandium-doping-improves-battery-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/scandium-doping-improves-battery-lifetime\/","title":{"rendered":"Scandium doping technique improves battery lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A new breakthrough led by Professor Shinichi Komaba of <strong>Tokyo University of Science (TUS)<\/strong> has shown that <strong>scandium doping<\/strong> offers a direct solution to the problem of <strong>rapid capacity degradation during charge and discharge cycles<\/strong> of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/sodigreen-drives-development-of-more-sustainable-sodium-batteries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sodium batteries<\/a><\/strong> especially in cathodes based on sodium and manganese oxides (Na\u2082\/\u2083MnO\u2082).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What was the problem with Na\u2082\/\u2083MnO\u2082?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>During each charging cycle, Na\u207a ions enter and leave the cathode material, a process that repeatedly alters the oxidation states of manganese between Mn\u00b3\u207a and Mn\u2074\u207a. As Mn\u00b3\u207a forms, the atomic lattice undergoes <strong>Jahn-Teller distortion<\/strong>, a phenomenon that eventually weakens the cathode structure and drastically reduces its useful capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previous attempts to dope the material with other metals, such as ytterbium or aluminum, <strong>failed to solve the underlying problem.<\/strong> That&#8217;s where scandium comes in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The role of scandium doping in structural stability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The TUS research team focused their study on the <strong>P\u20322 polytype of Na\u2082\/\u2083MnO\u2082,<\/strong> a structural variant with cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion. By introducing scandium (Sc) into this type of cathode, <g id=\"gid_1\">significant improvements in crystal structure retention<\/g> were observed, even after many cycles. Among the most relevant findings are:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The formation of smaller and more uniform particles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Preservation of cooperative distortion without loss of crystallinity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A natural barrier against reactions with liquid electrolyte and moisture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An altered crystalline growth that favors the longevity of the cathode.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Results: up to 60% capacity after 300 cycles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In semi-cell tests, P\u20322 cathodes doped with <strong>8% scandium<\/strong> maintained <strong>60%<\/strong> capacity retention <strong>after 300 cycles<\/strong>, unthinkable for undoped composites. Moreover, unlike other polythiophenes such as P2, the benefits were unique to P\u20322, demonstrating a unique synergy between cooperative structure and scandium doping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The doping also resisted well to the use of precyclization techniques, suggesting <strong>real industrial viability<\/strong> for the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The next phase and considerations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Scandium is an expensive metal<\/strong>, the researchers acknowledge this, but their study <strong>proves the feasibility of the concept<\/strong>, so now the challenge is to optimize the amount used or find ways to make it economically viable for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/enervate-and-sealence-will-develop-a-high-performance-battery-for-electric-boats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">high-performance batteries<\/a><\/strong>. <strong>Scandium doping<\/strong>, so far an underexplored strategy, could become an essential tool in the transition to more sustainable and robust storage systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tus.ac.jp\/en\/mediarelations\/archive\/20250912_4834.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <strong>Tokyo University of Science<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doping with scandium in Na\u2082\/\u2083MnO\u2082 cathodes allows retaining 60% of capacity after 300 cycles, opening new opportunities to replace lithium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10019,"featured_media":312484,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13026,13044],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-312955","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-energy","categoria_noticias-new-energies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/312955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/312955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=312955"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=312955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}