Made a new chemical process that can transform sulfur waste into a lightweight plastic that can improve electric car batteries. The work bears the signature of scientists from the University of Arizona Tucson
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Created a new chemical process capable of transforming waste from sulfur in a lightweight plastic that can enhance your electric car batteries. The work bears the signature of scientists from the University of Arizona Tucson.
The research team led by Jeffrey Pyun in fact, he discovered a simple process that leads to the creation of a new lightweight plastic with inexpensive and abundant sulfur. And the team has already produced a lithium-sulfur battery (Li-S), a new generation lighter and cheaper than those currently used in electric and hybrid cars.
Pyun and colleagues tried to do something new: transform liquid sulfur into a plastic which could easily be produced on an industrial scale. However, this element poses technical challenges, but the scientist has managed to identify the chemicals that have a greater probability of polymerizing sulfur and has started a long process of experimentation on all chemicals. over 20, considered gods good catalysts. And he was lucky since the first was the winning one, leading to the creation of long sulfur chains very similar, at the molecular level, to plastic.
The team's discovery could provide a new use for the sulfur that was left unused during the process refining of oil and natural gas. Although industrial uses already exist for sulfur, the amount generated by the refining of fossil fuels far exceeds the current need for the element. Some oil refineries are piling up yellow mountains of sulfur waste, from which the plastic of the future could be created at this point.
Researchers promise that Li-S batteries they will be particularly suitable for electric and hybrid cars, because they are more efficient, lighter and cheaper than those currently in use. But the new plastic would have other potential uses, including optical ones. "We have developed a new, simple and useful chemical process to transform sulfur into a usable plastic", he said Jeffrey Pyun.
But even if the first experiment worked, the scientists need to try the other chemicals on their list to see if they can give the same results as liquid sulfur.
Francesca Mancuso
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