The Research Team from the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (DTMM FTUI) developed an innovative lithium ion battery material for electric vehicles. The battery building material being developed is made from coffee grounds waste which is processed into graphene and coconut shell waste which is processed into activated carbon to be added to the anode active material. This innovation is able to make the resulting battery have a lighter weight and a faster charging time.
The lithium ion battery made by a research team consisting of Prof. Dr. Ir. Anne Zulfia Syahrial, M.Sc., Ir. Bambang Priyono, M.T., and Nofrijon Sofyan, Ph.D., made from Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) mixed with tin (Sn) and activated carbon (C) and LTO mixed with Silicon (Si) and activated carbon (C) ) to form LTO/C-Sn and LTO/C-Si composites as the anode active material and Lithium Ferro Phospate (LFP) as the cathode active material, respectively. The Head of the FTUI Lithium-Ion Battery Research Team, Prof. Dr. Ir. Anne Zulfia Syahrial, M.Sc. explained, “LTO is not prone to experiencing a short circuit during the charging process. The resulting electric current is more stable and safer than Lithium Graphite batteries which are commonly used in electric vehicle batteries today. The downside is the specific capacity (LTO) at 175 mAh/g, lower than graphite at 372 mAh/g. Our team tries to overcome this weakness by mixing Sn or Si and activated carbon from coconut shell waste into composites. We also process coffee grounds into graphene to be mixed with LTO.” “The idea of using coffee grounds for Lithium Ion batteries started when the research team saw a lot of waste from coffee that was not utilized. After being studied, it turns out that coffee grounds can be processed into graphene to increase the LTO conductivity in Lithium-Ion batteries. In coffee waste, we found that it contains particles that can produce nanoparticles with good surface area conditions. The better the condition of the surface area, the more ions enter which can produce better power too,” said Bambang explaining the idea of utilizing coffee grounds. “The greater the weight of the car, the lower the thrust. Fuel consumption is also getting bigger. Existing lithium graphite batteries are quite heavy. To reduce weight, we are trying to develop lighter materials so that the battery weight can be reduced until we reach our target of 200 kg. Our team is also researching how to shorten the charging time like refueling in conventional vehicles,” said Nofrijon.
The advantages of Lithium-Ion batteries with developed LTO are their lighter weight and faster charging times. The FTUI Research Team estimates that the electric car battery with LTO can reach a weight of 200 kilograms, much lighter than the current battery with the same capacity, which weighs around 500 kilograms. With that light weight, the mileage that can be achieved by the car will increase. Meanwhile, the current battery charging time is 30 minutes with a future target of reaching 15 minutes for full charging. This time is faster than electric car batteries which currently require 1.5 – 2 hours of charging time.
Dean, Dr. Ir. Hendri D.S. Budiono, M.Eng., added, “This electric battery innovation will be very beneficial for the development of the electric vehicle industry in Indonesia. I hope that the industry can absorb innovations produced by academics and then commercialize them. The results of this study show that Indonesia has great potential to dominate the market in terms of electric vehicle batteries with so many materials for making electric batteries available in Indonesia.”
On a separate occasion, the Director of the Research Center for Advanced Vehicle (RCAVe) Dr. Mohammad Adhitya, S.T., M.Sc., said that this electric battery research is part of RCAVe’s major research which is currently developing large electric bus technology with several industrial partners through the LPDP productive research program (Rispro). “We designed this electric bus as an environmentally friendly bus with industry partners by paying attention to security, safety and energy efficiency factors so that it can compete with similar products currently on the market. Using an aluminum body frame that is attached to the frame of the low entry which is monocoque type and will be equipped with an intelligent system to ensure that driving safety and security factors can be met optimally,” he said. Together with domestic industry partners, namely MAB, PINDAD, NSAD, and AICOOL, it is hoped that this electric bus can be presented to the Indonesian people in early 2022 and then immediately marketed. This Lithium-Ion battery product with LTO is one of dozens of research products made by FTUI lecturers and researchers that are ready to be commercialized. These various research products are exhibited in the exhibition area on the 2nd floor of the FTUI i-CELL building and are open to the public as research tours and can be enjoyed in person and online by the wider community. The FTUI research results exhibition can be accessed through a virtual tour at https://bit.ly/BusinessMatchingFTUI.
