Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2014;48(5):3047-55. doi: 10.1021/es4037786. Epub 2014 Feb 14.
Although silicon nanowires (SiNW) have been widely studied as an ideal material for developing high-capacity lithium ion batteries (LIBs) for electric vehicles (EVs), little is known about the environmental impacts of such a new EV battery pack during its whole life cycle. This paper reports a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a high-capacity LIB pack using SiNW prepared via metal-assisted chemical etching as anode material. The LCA study is conducted based on the average U.S. driving and electricity supply conditions. Nanowastes and nanoparticle emissions from the SiNW synthesis are also characterized and reported. The LCA results show that over 50% of most characterized impacts are generated from the battery operations, while the battery anode with SiNW material contributes to around 15% of global warming potential and 10% of human toxicity potential. Overall the life cycle impacts of this new battery pack are moderately higher than those of conventional LIBs but could be actually comparable when considering the uncertainties and scale-up potential of the technology. These results are encouraging because they not only provide a solid base for sustainable development of next generation LIBs but also confirm that appropriate nanomanufacturing technologies could be used in sustainable product development.
尽管硅纳米线（SiNW）已被广泛研究作为开发用于电动汽车（EV）的高容量锂离子电池（LIB）的理想材料，但对于这种新型 EV 电池组在其整个生命周期内的环境影响却知之甚少。本文报告了使用通过金属辅助化学蚀刻制备的 SiNW 作为阳极材料的高容量 LIB 组的生命周期评估（LCA）。LCA 研究基于美国平均驾驶和电力供应条件进行。还对 SiNW 合成过程中的纳米废料和纳米颗粒排放进行了表征和报告。LCA 结果表明，大多数特征影响中有超过 50%来自电池操作，而 SiNW 材料的电池阳极对全球变暖潜能值的贡献约为 15%，对人类毒性潜能值的贡献约为 10%。总体而言，这种新型电池组的生命周期影响略高于传统 LIB，但在考虑技术的不确定性和规模化潜力时，实际上可能具有可比性。这些结果令人鼓舞，因为它们不仅为下一代 LIB 的可持续发展提供了坚实的基础，而且还证实了适当的纳米制造技术可以用于可持续产品开发。
