Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Researchers from Stanford University have developed a quickly-recharging, long-lasting, safe and inexpensive alternative to lithium-ion and single-use alkaline batteries that currently power most modern electronics – one which reportedly takes about one minute to fully recharge.
“We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames,” explained Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at the California university. “Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.”
“Less explode-y” batteries are definitely a good thing
According to Engadget, the new aluminum-ion battery Dai and his colleagues are working on is far more reliable than previous attempts to build a power source using the element, and is able to withstand over 7,500 recharge cycles without capacity loss (compared to around 100 for previous attempts). It can also be built at “a fraction of the price” and is “less explode-y than lithium.”
The low cost, low flammability and high-charge storage capacity of aluminum has long made it an attractive material for use in batteries, the Stanford researchers explained. Several attempts at building one have been made over the past few decades, but coming up with a version that can be widely used has been difficult because of the inability to find materials which can produce a sufficient amount of voltage after repeated charging cycles, they added.
Dai’s team stumbled across a possible solution to that problem, however, “accidentally” finding that carbon-based graphite could be used as the positive electrode (with aluminum serving as the negative one). To create their battery, they placed a graphite cathode, and aluminum anode, and a ionic liquid electrolyte (essentially a room-temperature salt) in a flexible polymer-coated pouch.
Promising, but still a work in progress
The researchers report that their battery is safer than the conventional lithium-ion batteries used to power smartphones and laptops, which Dai noted “can be a fire hazard” and bulk shipments of which have been banned recently by some airliners. Conversely, the Stanford-developed battery, “won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it,” according to the chemistry professor.
“In our study, we have videos showing that you can drill through the aluminum battery pouch, and it will continue working for a while longer without catching fire,” he added. “But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner – in the air, the car or in your pocket. Besides safety, we have achieved major breakthroughs in aluminum battery performance.”
In addition to being a faster, cheaper and safer way to power electronics, the researchers (who have published a paper on their work in the journal Nature) believe that their battery could also be used to store renewable energy on the power grid. However, the device can only produce two volts of power and carry just 40 watts of electricity per kilogram in its current form (versus 3.6 watts and 206 W/kg power density for a lithium ion battery), according to Engadget.
“Improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density,” said Dai. “Otherwise, our battery has everything else you’d dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It’s quite exciting.”
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