It has been 20 years since 'lithium ion battery' began to be commercially used in the car, and 200 years since 'lead-acid battery' was developed for the first time. Generally, the speed of battery development has been slow, because it has been difficult to innovate. But, a dream battery was created. Prof. Yang-Kook Sun (Dept of Energy Engineering, College of Engineering) and his team succeeded in developing lithium-air battery, which was the moment when an axile changed in the history of battery development, and the harbinger indicating the new beginning of history.

Left: Worrying the phenomenon of avoiding science and engineering majors among high school graduates, Professor Suneon advises those students to 'love oneself'. His advice implies that students should find their careers through self-love, driving force of all human activities.
Right : The operating principle of lithium air battery is as follows. Lithium is oxidized at anode Cathode lithium emits forming electron, generating electric current. Lithium ion (Li+) which lost electron moves through electrolyte to carbon cathode anode (black colors), combining with oxygen. When it is charged, lithium ion gets electron and goes back to anode cathode again.

Lithium-air battery developed by the team led by prof. Suneon is high-performance battery for electric car which allows the car to go and return from Seoul to Busan with the single charge. It is the battery the big companies like Toyota and IBM and researchers have tried to develop for the past decades. The finding of this team was published in Nature Chemistry, sister journal of Nature. Related researchers and industries are paying attention to him.

Batttery consists of cathode, anode, and electrolyte. The development of lithium-air battery was due to 'innovative electrolyte'. The team could improve the battery performance by replacing carbonate-type electrolyte used in existing battery with TEGDME (tetra ethylene dimethyle glycol ether), ether-type electrolyte. Many researchers have tried to use TEGDME, but There was the limit. In order to overcome this limit, Professor Sun tried to improve management method of electrolyte moisture. Furthermore, he changed anode material from expensive manganese or cobalt to cheap carbon, lowering the production price.

'Dream battery, nickname of lithium-air battery, has double meaning. It contains both the expectation of innovation and the question about the possibility of realizing it. Since the development of lithium ion batterycell, repeated failures of development of the dream battery have forced researchers and industries almost to give up its development. Researchers and industries were almost consensual that 'dream battery is not lithium-air battery, but lithium sulfur battery'. However, professor Suneon team succeeded in developing it. The paper of the team blew a new breath to stagnant research on it. Dream battery not only developed the technology, but gave a new hope to people who make efforts to develop batteriescells.