UTILIZATION OF BORON AS AN ENERGY MATERIAL

Turkey has 73% of the world's boron reserves, however, approximately 93.5% of boron treated in Turkey is known to be shipped [1]. In developed countries, boron materials produced from boron mine are the common value added materials used in many technologies from aircraft fuels to space technologies. Studies and ongoing research on boron will enable the exploration of new uses of boron compounds and boron-based materials in advanced products, and as the critical areas of use of boron mine increase, they will become a mine to overcome the international struggle over the next years as it is in oil. In recent years, the increase in the number of R & D studies and patents on the use of boron materials in power generation and energy storage systems is striking. Boron materials have been found to provide electrochemical performance, charge-discharge cycle life and thermal stability when used in lithium ion battery components as electrolyte salt, electrolyte additive and cathode active material. Lithium-ion batteries are the most efficient power sources for a variety of applications such as portable electronics, electric vehicles and large-capacity energy storage systems. The intense price competition in lithium-ion battery technology drives manufacturers to improve new chemistry technologies and improve processes to reduce production costs. In this study, the results of the use of boron compounds and materials in lithium ion battery technology in the world and in our country are given. Another use of boron products in energy technologies is to use them as fuel in fuel cells. In this context, sodium borohydride can be used directly as fuel in sodium borohydride fuel cells or as a hydrogen source in PEM fuel cells. Particularly sodium borohydride stands out as a good alternative because of its high volumetric and weighted hydrogen storage capacity. Sodium borohydride network can store 20% hydrogen, not flammable / explosive, the reaction can be easily controlled, half of the hydrogen comes from the water, the other half comes from water, the catalyst and sodium metaborate can be reused. The theoretical energy density and the theoretical specific capacity are 9.3 Wh/g [2] and 5.67 Ah/g [3], respectively. Especially in range-boosting vehicles, the transport of flammable / explosive fuels in pressurized tanks will provide the user with confidence and facilitate the spread of technology. Sodium borohydride is converted into hydrogen and metaborate by the hydrolysis reaction. In this study, products developed domestically are explained for both area of usage.