Heavy rain and the overflowing Acre River flooded wide areas of the city of Rio Branco the capital of the state of Acre in Brazil The city recorded 124.4 mm of rain in 24 hours to 23 March 2023 according to figures from Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) The Acre River at Rio Branco jumped from around 8 metres to 15.80 metres in 24 hours Streets and homes were damaged across 10 neighbourhoods including Placas Authorities helped to evacuate some residents who took refuge in school buildings in the Conquista neighbourhood Flooding has continued in the city since then with the Acre River rising to 16.96 metres As many as 2,213 people have evacuated their homes The river has also flooded areas in the municipalities of Assis Brasil In Xapuri levels of the Acre River stood at 15.16 metres (flood level is 15 metres) and in Brasileia the river reached 13.62 metres (flood level is 11.40 metres) flooding from the Acre River has affected almost 15,000 people local authorities reported 433 displaced in Assis Brasil; 8,886 displaced in Brasileia; and 316 displaced in Xapuri Flooding along the Acre river is also affecting areas of the Pando Department in Bolivia which sits on the banks of the Acre opposite the city of Brasileia Bolivia’s Ministry of Health reported at least 300 families have been affected or evacuated Five shelters have been opened to accommodate those displaced Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Metrics details A photonic connection between turbulence and spin glasses has been recently established both theoretically and experimentally using a random fiber laser as a photonic platform it links the works of two 2021 Nobel laureates in Physics two of the most elusive physical phenomena that lie at the very heart of the seminal works by Hasselmann and Parisi resulting in an open disordered complex system with suitable gain and scattering to provide the optical feedback for RL action The Nobel Committee for Physics. The Nobel Prize in physics 2021: scientific background. 28 Mar 2022. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2021/advanced-information/ (2022) Glassy behavior in a one-dimensional continuous-wave erbium-doped random fiber laser Turbulence hierarchy in a random fibre laser Coexistence of turbulence-like and glassy behaviours in a photonic system Recent advances and applications of random lasers and random fiber lasers Toward a mean field theory for spin glasses Infinite number of order parameters for spin-glasses Experimental evidence of replica symmetry breaking in random lasers The laminar-turbulent transition in a fibre laser Dynamical Systems Approach to Turbulence 215 (Cambridge University Press Feynman diagrams and interaction rules of wave-wave scattering processes Nonlinear interactions treated by the methods of theoretical physics (with application to the generation of waves by wind) Download references Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00793-w Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article By: Marcos Araújo Mortoni Silva and Rafael Encinas the Brazilian Court of Audit (TCU) and the Comptroller General of the Union audited the Automotive Regional Development Policies (PADR) of the Brazilian government granted tax credits to automobile manufacturers that established factories in less developed regions of Brazil.  The PADR costs R$5 billion per year in tax benefits and currently benefits four companies which have factories located in the cities of Goiana and Belo Jardim The audit was structured to allow for a comprehensive opinion on the current situation of the PADR regarding its maturity as public policies and their results Figure 1 presents the analytical framework and audit questions that were developed for the work Figure 1 – Analytical framework of the PADR Audit The RCPP presents an analytical rationale structured in control blocks (Figure 2) designed in line with the phases of the policy cycle providing a conceptual basis and a toolkit for guiding public policy analyses (Figure 3) Figure 2 – Analytical structure of the RCPP and policy cycle Figure 3 – RCPP – toolkit for public policy analysis The RCPP served as an integrating reference for relevant analytical and methodological perspectives in public policies in the audit of the PADR facilitating dialogue between the team and the internal supervisors and decision-makers of the TCU on common ground since incentives and constraints influence agents in their decisions the audit was innovative and also considered this context in the analysis of the PADR.  consolidated perspectives from the literature such as public choice theory and agency theory were adopted for the formulation of questions and justification of the characterization of the causes and effects of the audit findings This analytical framework was highly useful in demonstrating the material relevance of accountability for the effectiveness of governments in public policies the method was developed to estimate the effects of aggregate interventions interventions that are implemented at an aggregate level affecting a small number of large units (such as cities it is “arguably the most important innovation in the policy evaluation literature in the last 15 years.”  The method is primarily used in comparative case studies comparing the evolution of the outcome variable in the unit that received the government intervention with a set of untreated units that form the counterfactual of the treatment unit.  Although the PADR currently benefits four automotive factories the impact assessment was only possible for a factory inaugurated in 2015 due to data availability as the national indicator databases did not have information prior to the inauguration of the other factories.  municipalities are grouped into two levels of regions (IBGE Immediate regions are characterized by integration into the urban network based on nearby urban centers that satisfy the immediate needs of the populations Intermediate regions correspond to an intermediate scale between the federal unit and the immediate region delimited by the inclusion of metropolises or representative urban centers for a set of immediate regions (IBGE Both types of regions were defined as the territory for impact assessment.  Figure 4 shows the map of the state of Pernambuco with the division of its immediate and intermediate regions The immediate region where the evaluated factory was installed is the region shaded in dark green composed of eleven municipalities and a population of approximately 350,000 inhabitants The light green-shaded region is the intermediate region which encompasses the immediate region of the factory with the immediate and intermediate regions where the factory was installed The synthetic control evaluation indicated a significant impact on per capita GDP and total remuneration in the immediate region that benefited from the PADR Figure 5: Results of the synthetic control analysis for per capita GDP the proportion to the population in the treated immediate region reached 14.64% in 2019 The difference of 3.24% over the population of the region corresponds to 11,258 jobs generated.  the factory received R$4.6 billion (USD 1.1 billion) through tax incentives which corresponds to R$388 million (USD 92.4 million) per month resulting in a monthly cost of the policy per job created of R$34,000 (USD 8,100) a high cost considering the national minimum wage of R$998 (USD 238) or the amounts transferred by other social programs The results of the impact assessment were supported by employment generation data from national records which indicated low job creation in other sectors of the economy with a migration of jobs to the automotive sector information on the factory’s input purchases showed that only 6% of suppliers were from the target regions of the policy while 94% were acquired from companies in more developed regions.  The conclusions are aligned with studies from multilateral organizations such as the OECD (2015) and the World Bank (Kronfol & Steenbergen which state that tax incentives alone do not have the ability to attract investments as other factors are equally or more important in the decision-making process of private agents The maturity analysis of public policies adopted in the audit of the PADR can be replicated by Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) with contextualizations as necessary.  The applicability of the content of the RCPP needs to be verified on a case-by-case basis as its criteria are largely based on Brazilian legal frameworks as well as the competencies and jurisprudence of the TCU the analytical framework of the RCPP and its toolkits developed based on the phases of the policy cycle being useful for the assembly of audits aimed at a comprehensive analysis of public policies.  The adoption of theoretical perspectives that consider the behavior of agents can also be replicated for the maturity analysis of policies but as a scientific basis to guide investigative perspectives and explain the causes of findings in audits of public policies.  The impact assessment conducted in the audit of the PADR can also be used in audits that evaluate public policies in various sectors The synthetic control method allows for the construction of a counterfactual in case studies and other policies on large aggregates such as municipalities a large professional exhibition area was designed to give Congress participants the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences through networking regional organizations and other affiliated groups were represented at booth spaces throughout the week-long event… 193 nations of the United Nations General Assembly put pen to paper and agreed to sign on to implement 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) How can citizens be sure a nation’s government follows through on these commitments… Kuwait’s State Audit Bureau welcomes a new President and continues its international training including contributions to the Young EUROSAI (YES) Conference held in London last November… Metrics details Random lasers (RLs) are remarkable experimental platforms to advance the understanding of complex systems phenomena such as the replica-symmetry-breaking (RSB) spin glass phase Here we study these three phenomena jointly in a Nd:YAG based RL synthesized for the first time using a spray pyrolysis method We propose a couple of modified Pearson correlation coefficients that are simultaneously sensitive to the emergence and fading out of photonic intermittency turbulent-like effects Our results show how intertwined these phenomena are in RLs and suggest that they might share some common underlying mechanisms possibly approached in future theoretical models under a unified treatment RLs differ from regular lasers in the optical feedback mechanism Whereas in regular lasers the feedback is provided by a static cavity generally formed by two mirrors in RLs the optical feedback comes from the stimulated photons in the gain medium that are randomly scattered in a disordered material including optical and electrical pumping associated with gain media or active materials as semiconductors and rare-earth doped ions a photonic glassy phase with RSB was predicted in the RL regime above threshold in which the modes cannot oscillate in a synchronous way presenting nontrivial correlations captured by the Parisi overlap parameter we demonstrate that the joint analysis of the modes dynamics correlations and intermittency turbulent-like effects can be performed from a couple of modified Pearson coefficients our experimental study system is a Nd-based RL consisting of Nd3+ ions in YAG micron crystal powder (Nd:YAG) synthesized for the first time using a spray pyrolysis method which enabled us to control the composition of particles and crystalline phase That fast methodology produces particles in a few minutes without coalescence and might allow also to produce these materials on a large scale Our results reveal the concurrent onset of enhanced mode correlations photonic RSB and turbulence behavior in the Nd:YAG RL We argue that these complex photonic phenomena result from a unique combination of key ingredients a suitable disorder strength of gain and scattering elements all of them unveiled in this work from a single set of measurements of intensity fluctuations We employed a spray pyrolysis method to synthesize the particles of Nd:YAG (4.0% mol/mol to Y3+), with average diameter of 0.6 μm, see “Methods” section for details Characterization of the emitted intensity and FWHM of the Nd:YAG RL (a) RL spectral evolution from an excitation pulse energy below the threshold (0.3 mJ) to well above threshold (1.3 mJ) (b) Emitted intensity (left y-axis) and FWHM (right y-axis) versus excitation energy The energy threshold 0.62 mJ is inferred from (b) we use Greek letters to represent the spectrum labels and small Latin letters to indicate the wavelength labels \(I_{\gamma i}\) as the intensity emitted by the Nd:YAG RL at the wavelength \(\lambda_{i}\) in the spectrum \(\gamma\) \(I_{i}\) is the intensity at the wavelength \(\lambda_{i}\) averaged over the spectra We also define \(\overline{{\Delta_{\gamma i} }}\) as the relative difference (fluctuation) with respect to this average \(\overline{{\Delta_{\gamma i} }} = \Delta_{\gamma i} /\sqrt {\sum\nolimits_{K} {\left( {\Delta_{\gamma i} } \right)^{2} } }\) where \(\Delta_{\gamma i} = I_{\gamma i} - I_{i}\) and capital Latin letters represent either the spectra (e.g. We then propose a modified Pearson correlation coefficient as follows where above we use the Einstein summation convention over repeated indexes that \(\lambda_{i}\) and \(\lambda_{j}\) represent the wavelengths of two modes of the laser system Then a null value of \(C_{ij}\) implies that these modes behave statistically in an uncorrelated way over the time interval of the spectra series a positive (negative) \(C_{ij}\) signals that the statistical fluctuations in the intensity of one mode are positively (negatively) correlated to those in the other mode so that the spatially overlapped coupled modes share (compete for) gain along the measurement Each horizontal line corresponds to an excitation power from below threshold (two upper lines: \(P/P_{th} = 0.18\) and \(P/P_{th} = 0.56\)) to around (central line: \(P/P_{th} = 1.32\)) and well above threshold (two lower lines: \(P/P_{th} = 2.07\) and \(P/P_{th} = 2.45\)) a replica-symmetric paramagnetic-like phase identified by a unimodal central peaked \(P\left( q \right) \) coincides with weakly fluctuating spectra and uncorrelated intensity fluctuations with mostly blue heatmaps of the Pearson coefficient the RSB glassy behavior sets in with two side peaks in \(P\left( q \right)\) along with stronger intensity fluctuations and increasingly correlated modes (orange and red regions in the heatmaps) Each horizontal line in Fig. 2 corresponds to a value of the excitation power from the prelasing regime well below threshold with \(P/P_{th} = 0.18\) and \(P/P_{th} = 0.56\) (two upper lines) to the RL phase around the threshold with \(P/P_{th} = 1.32\) (center line) \(P/P_{th} = 2.07\) and \(P/P_{th} = 2.45\) (two lower lines) indicate the presence of a photonic replica-symmetric paramagnetic-like regime Since modes overlap spatially and stochastically compete for gain, we note in Fig. 2i,l,o that this competition can favor some subsets of modes displaying stronger Pearson cross-correlation values while undermining others with lower correlation (less intense heatmap regions) We now turn to the joint analysis of intermittency effects along with modes correlations and RSB in the Nd:YAG RL system Here we also demonstrate this phenomenon in a RL and further analyze the onset and fading out of intermittency effects with respect to the emergence and persistency of modes correlations and RSB behavior In fluid turbulence51 the relevant statistical quantities are the velocity increments between two points in the fluid \(\delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} = I_{\gamma + \tau ,i} - I_{\gamma i}\) between spectra \(\gamma\) and \(\gamma + \tau\) separated in time by \({\Delta }t = \tau t_{0} ,\) with integers \(\gamma\) and \(\tau ,\) and \(t_{0} =\) 100 ms as the time interval between two consecutive spectra emitted by the Nd:YAG RL For a proper statistical analysis including long separation times \(\tau \gg 1\) we had to take into account a 5 × larger number of spectra (5000) we conveniently define a variable with null average and unit variance \(x_{\tau ,\gamma i} = \delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} /{\text{var}} \left\{ {\delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} } \right\}\) where \({\text{var}}\left\{ {\delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} } \right\}\) is the variance of the long time series of intensity increments We also choose in our analysis the wavelength \(\lambda_{i}\) of maximum intensity (once \(\lambda_{i}\) is set we drop the wavelength index \(i\) hereafter) in which a heavy-tailed PDF of velocity increments sets in between nearby points but a Gaussian PDF always arises when uncorrelated distant points are considered The intermittency of the stochastic flux of energy between the relevant time scales is a key ingredient to set the statistical properties of \(P\left( {x_{\tau } } \right)\) when the intermittent behavior is mitigated by decreasing the input excitation power and optical nonlinearity degree the heavy tail of \(P\left( {x_{\tau } } \right)\) fades away and a Gaussian PDF with a single scale variance emerges for any \(\tau\) in the non-turbulent regime below threshold Intermittency effects and RSB behavior in the Nd:YAG RL. Distributions \(P\left( {Q_{\tau } } \right)\) and \(P\left( {x_{\tau } } \right)\) of the modified Pearson correlation coefficient, Eq. (4) \(x_{\tau ,\gamma i} = \delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} /{\text{var}}\left\{ {\delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i} } \right\}\) of spectra separated in time by \(\tau t_{0} ,\) with \(t_{0} = 100\) ms The upper (lower) horizontal line corresponds to the excitation power \(P/P_{th} = 0.56\) (\(P/P_{th} = 1.50\)) below (above) threshold For \(\tau = 0\) the PDF \(P\left( {Q_{\tau } } \right)\) is equivalent to the Parisi overlap distribution \(P\left( q \right)\) with (a) a single central peak in the replica-symmetric regime below threshold [also seen in (b)] and (e) double side peaks with RSB above threshold in the latter (former) a Lévy (Gaussian) \(P\left( {x_{\tau } } \right)\) indicates in (h) (d) the coexistence with a photonic turbulent-like (non-turbulent) regime above (below) threshold For \(\tau \gg 1\) only Gaussians are found [insets of (c) and (g)] As the intermittency effects fade away in the crossover from the \(\tau = 1 \) to \(\tau \gg 1\) time scales a quite distinct statistical behavior of \(P(Q_{\tau } )\) emerges with the most likely values of \(Q_{\tau }\) in (f) becoming the least probable ones in (g) for \(\tau > 0\) \(d_{\tau ,\gamma i}\) is equivalent to the intensity increments \(\delta I_{\tau ,\gamma i}\) in the analysis of photonic turbulence we thus expect that the statistical weight of the replica overlaps with \(\tau \gg 1\) dominates over the long time series of spectra \(P(Q_{\tau } )\) should actually appear qualitatively similar to the bimodal PDF \(P\left( q \right)\) when the turbulence-like intermittency effects are suppressed for large separation time scales \(\tau \gg 1\) no critical exponents associated with the glassy transition in these systems have been calculated so far and an ideal photonic glassy system for this purpose should be one in which the number of modes could be experimentally controlled Our joint analysis of these complex photonic phenomena through a couple of modified Pearson correlation coefficients in the Nd:YAG RL showed how intertwined these behaviors are in a RL system and indicate that they might share common physical underlying mechanisms Although it is out of the scope of the present work to propose a theorical model to account for such phenomena we suggest that a unique combination of key ingredients is subjacent to the mechanisms responsible for such behaviors as the structural disorder in the distribution of gain and scattering elements and suitable degree of optical nonlinearity all of them present in the Nd:YAG RL analyzed here from a single set of measurements of intensity fluctuations We hope our findings can stimulate the quest for the joint understanding of these complex behaviors under a unified theoretical approach which can benefit from tools and concepts employed in the separate treatment of such challenging phenomena 12 ml of aqueous yttrium nitrate solution (0.5 M) and 4 ml of neodymium nitrate solution (0.1 M) were added to 20 ml of ultrapure water previously heated to 83 °C 2.43 g (0.01 mol) of the aluminum tri-sec-butoxide was added and hydrolyzed for 1 h under stirring and 0.5 ml of nitric acid was added as a peptizing agent The final volume was adjusted to 50 mL with ultrapure water after cooling the suspension This 0.2 M sol was spray pyrolyzed into the SP system the aerosol was generated at an ultrasound chamber where a 2.4 MHz frequency piezoelectric pellet was employed the aerosol was transported by a gas flow (0.1 m3/h atmospheric air) through two heat treatment zones: the drying zone (150 °C) and the pyrolysis one (700 °C) In the first the solvent was evaporated and the initial solid particles were attained; and in the second the final material was obtained by a fast heat treatment the powder was collected in an electrostatic filter (150 °C) operating at 11 kV the collected powder was further heated at 1100 °C for 12 h Figure 4 shows the typical morphology and particles size distribution of the powder sample used in this work. The sizes of the spherical particles ranged from 0.1 μm to 2.0 μm, with average diameter of 0.6 μm. Diameter distribution of micron size Nd:YAG (4.0%) particles synthesized by spray pyrolysis (Inset) Scanning electron microscopy image of the sample (a) Excitation spectrum (emission band monitored at 1064 nm) and (b) emission spectrum (under excitation at 808 nm) of the Nd:YAG (4.0%) powder The most important emission 1064 nm corresponds to the Nd3+ transition 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 The experimental setup shown in Fig. 6 is typically used for powder-based RL studies. The pump source was an optical parametric oscillator (OPO, Opotek) pumped by the second harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and tuned to the 810 nm emission wavelength. A repetition rate of 10 Hz was employed and the source pulse duration was 5 ns. Experimental setup for measurements in the Nd:YAG RL M1 and M2 are 100% reflecting mirrors @800 nm and PBS is a broadband polarizer beam splitter and the data is acquired by a high-resolution spectrometer with CCD (see text for equipment details) We used a high-resolution spectrometer (SpectraPro 500 Acton Research Corporation) coupled with a charge-coupled device (CCD) In the discretization of the spectra the bin width was 0.032 nm a value that corresponds to the resolution of the acquisition system To study the RSB behavior and modes correlations we acquired a series of 1000 spectra for each input excitation energy and for intermittency effects 5000 spectra were obtained in the regimes below All relevant data are available from the authors Generation of light by a scattering medium with negative resonance absorption Generation of spatially incoherent short pulses in laser-pumped neodymium stoichiometric crystals and powders Nanocomposite-based random lasers: a review on basics and applications In Nanocomposites for Photonic and Electronic Applications (eds Kassab The physics and applications of random lasers Review on latest developments in random lasers with coherent feedback Nonlinear effects and photonic phase-transitions in Nd3+ doped nanocrystals based random lasers Random laser properties of Nd3+ crystal powders Random lasing in Nd3+ doped potassium gadolinium tungstate crystal powder Short-pulsed stimulated emission in the powders of NdAl3(BO3)4 Optimal performance of NdAl3(BO3)4 nanocrystals random lasers Random laser in Nd:YBO3 nanocrystalline powders presenting luminescence concentration quenching Tunable ultraviolet and blue light generation from Nd:YAB random laser bolstered by second-order nonlinear processes Polydispersed powders (Nd3+:YVO4) for ultra efficient random lasers Random laser emission from neodymium doped zinc tellurite glass-powder presenting luminescence concentration quenching Speckle-free near-infrared imaging using a Nd3+ random laser Two-color random laser based on a Nd3+ doped crystalline powder Observation of Lévy distribution and replica symmetry breaking in random lasers from a single set of measurements Lévy statistics of emission from a novel random amplifying medium: An optical realization of the Arrhenius cascade Intrinsic intensity fluctuations in random lasers Statistical regimes of random laser fluctuations Lévy exponents as universal identifiers of threshold and criticality in random lasers Analytical solution for the Lévy-like steady-state distribution of intensities in random lasers Extreme-value statistics of intensities in a CW-pumped random fiber laser Lévy spectral intensity statistics in a Raman random fiber laser Lévy statistics and glassy behavior of light in random fiber lasers Robustness of replica symmetry breaking phenomenology in random laser Replica symmetry breaking in FRET-assisted random laser based on electrospun polymer fiber Spin Glass Theory and Beyond (World Scientific Statistical mechanics models for multimode lasers and random lasers Strong interactions in multimode random lasers Toward single-mode random lasing within a submicrometre-sized spherical ZnO particle film Diverse regimes of mode intensity correlation in nanofiber random lasers through nanoparticle doping The mode-locking transition of random lasers Random laser in dye-doped electrospun nanofibers: Study of laser mode dynamics via temporal mapping of emission spectra using Pearson’s correlation Replica symmetry breaking in a weakly scattering optofluidic random laser Evaluation of Pearson correlation coefficient and Parisi parameter of replica symmetry breaking in a hybrid electronic addressable random fiber laser Coexistence of turbulence-like and glassy behavior in a photonic system Evidence of Anderson localization effects in random Raman lasing Large fluctuations at the lasing threshold of solid-and liquid-state dye lasers Elaboration of boehmite nano-powders by spray-pyrolysis Tuned structure of europium-doped Al2O3-ytrium luminescent composites and their spectroscopic behavior Random laser action in Nd:YAG crystal powder Download references We thank the Brazilian funding agencies Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (Proc Fundação de Amparo a Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE) (APQ-0504-1.05/14 and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 Work performed in the framework of the National Institute of Photonics (INCT de Fotônica-IFO) Project Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) is also acknowledged for the grants received by J.M.A.C Laboratório de Física Teórica e Computacional prepared and performed the morphological characterization developed the theoretical study and statistical analysis of the experimental data The manuscript was written with the contributions of all authors The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05090-5 Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science (Image courtesy of Bucheon FC 1995) Copyright © 2018 K League United | South Korean football news, opinions, match previews and score predictions '+f[d].getAttribute("aria-label")+" ':">")+'Reply':">")+'Retweet':">")+"Favorite Sign up to get automatic updates via email. New initiatives set to propel Brazil into the growing market for automotive energy storage systems Oxis Energy Oxis Energy’s laboratory in England where its lithium-sulfur battery technology was developedOxis Energy A vehicle battery is an assembly of smaller batteries that are integrated into a package and managed by a Battery Management System (BMS) Application-specific packages are designed by connecting cells in series and parallel says the new plant will produce cells but not batteries proper—this final stage will be handled by companies dedicated to cell integration with Battery Management Systems (BMS) “We are currently in the process of selecting integration partners We hope to attract several to Brazil,” he says Battery integrators need to be acceptable to and selected by future buyers Among the OEMS that have expressed interest in sourcing batteries from the new plant are Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer The joint venture’s lithium-sulfur battery technology has been developed by its UK partner last year invested R$18.6 million in a 12% stake in Oxis Energy and intends for the production facility in Brazil to provide downstream integration for its lithium supply chain in Minas Gerais has the potential to become a globally leading producer of the mineral Oxis Brasil will be the world’s first plant to produce lithium-sulfur batteries at commercial scale Several other research centers around the world are now also vested in the new technology Sony is looking to harness lithium-sulfur chemistry in the production of smart phone batteries while US-based Sion Power Corporation is developing batteries with the technology for automotive applications is developing new materials and insight into the electrochemical chemistry involved in lithium-sulfur technology Brazil produced only 600 metric tons (mt) of lithium in 2018 accounting for about 0.7% of the global market The country’s entire output of the mineral was mined by Companhia Brasileira de Lítio (CBL) The Geological Survey of Brazil has estimated reserves in Vale do Jequitinhonha to represent 8% of global reserves Australia and Chile are currently the world’s leading producers at respectively 51,000 mt and 16,000 mt per year explains that because of the substances involved and the production process this combination of materials can create a fire and explosion hazard when exposed to stressors such as warming above 45 ºC or punctures—as might occur in a vehicle collision Oxis Energy’s battery solution uses anodes made of lithium metal in replacement of graphite carbon and cathodes made of a combination of sulfur and carbon The company has developed its own proprietary technology for both the cathode and the electrolyte solution These new batteries have been shown by testing to be safe at temperatures ranging from minus 60 ºC to 80 ºC and will not explode when punctured or shorted lithium-sulfur batteries also have an edge in energy density While lithium-ion batteries concentrate a maximum of 240 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) lithium-sulfur batteries can store 450 Wh/kg This allows batteries to be made smaller and lighter is that lithium-ion batteries are already approaching their theoretical efficiency limit whereas lithium-sulfur batteries still have potential to evolve further in terms of energy density “Oxis expects to achieve 550 Wh/kg by early 2020,” she says CBMM, based in Araxá, southeastern Brazil, is the world’s largest producer of niobium In 2018 it partnered with Toshiba Corporation to develop new lithium battery technology Toshiba’s R&D department plans to replace the carbon anode with a titanium-niobium composite oxide (NTO) while maintaining a traditional cathode made of lithium alloy and metal says that NTO will not react to lithium and generate structural stress such as a 13% increase in volume when charging “This allows for more power and faster charging times,” he says In a comparison of two batteries with the same charge the lithium-ion version takes four hours to charge while its NTO counterpart needs just 10 minutes for a full recharge NTO batteries also have a lifespan of over 15 years in automotive applications while the best-performing lithium-ion batteries last around 10 years Another advantage is that NTO anodes are safer when exposed to heat or perforation stress This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for research related to lithium batteries Under the partnership agreement between CBMM and Toshiba each side will invest US$7.2 million in a pilot plant being built in Yokohama where the first units are expected to be produced for testing within two years “We hope to secure OEM approval of the technology in 2021 which will give us the green light for construction of an industrial-scale production line,” says Ribas Another project exploring applications for niobium in batteries is being developed at Wildcat Discovery Technologies in San Diego which will employ niobium in making cathodes The project is still at an early stage of development According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) titled Global EV Outlook 2019, the most significant recent developments in the industry involve changes in battery chemistry, such as cathodes made of lithium metal oxides with a metal ratio of 80% nickel, 10% manganese, and 10% cobalt, compared with a current ratio with an equal portion of each metal. Cathodes made of lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxides, used for smaller-sized batteries, are another research front. For anode applications, silicon-graphite composites have attracted the greatest research interest. The automotive industry expects to see significant progress in improving energy density and reducing costs by 2025. Moura Group A Moura-owned lead-acid battery facility now retrofitted to produce lithium-ion rechargeable batteriesMoura Group says the company will adapt Xalt’s battery technology for the severe operating conditions in Brazil The batteries will be produced at a new manufacturing facility opened in 2018 Lithium-ion batteries require special safety measures to ensure they are properly sealed and protected from contact with water They also need cooling systems so they are kept within a safe temperature range “Vehicles in Brazil are exposed to different weather conditions than vehicles operating in the northern hemisphere,” says the executive a company housed at the Center for Innovation and Technology (CIETEC) at the University of São Paulo (USP) has been developing lithium-ion automotive battery technology since 2007 as a spinoff from a fuel-cell project supported by FAPESP’s PIPE program The company has established a partnership with Brasil VE Superleves a manufacturer of super-compact battery electric vehicles hosted at the Anhanguera Business Park in Cajamar which is due to start production in December The facility will produce between 40 and 200 units per month including 2- and 4-seater passenger vehicles a chemical engineer specializing in the manufacture of lithium batteries in Germany says the company will initially import battery cells and integrate them into lithium batteries in Brazil The first shipment of battery cells will come from Germany but the company also has prospective suppliers in China “We ultimately plan to produce battery cells locally We already have the necessary expertise and knowledge of the manufacturing process We just need to build enough scale to start production,” says Ett who is also a professor at the FEI University Center in São Bernardo do Campo (SP) Mechanical engineer Paulo Henrique de Mello Sant’Ana and Applied Social Sciences at the Federal University of ABC (CECS-UFABC) says that battery production capabilities will be strategic in a future of electric mobility It is crucial that Brazil engage in early development of battery technology rather than only buying finished products “While it’s still too early to say whether initiatives such as the CBMM-Toshiba or CODEMGE-Oxis joint ventures will be economically viable and successful at improving lithium battery performance it is certainly good news that Brazilian players are now involved in the development process,” he says © Revista Pesquisa FAPESP - All rights reserved.