Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumUltra-fast charging aluminum battery offers safe alternative to conventional batteries
Stanford University scientists have invented the first high-performance aluminum battery that's fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive. Researchers say the new technology offers a safe alternative to many commercial batteries in wide use today.
"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," said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. "Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it."
Dai and his colleagues describe their novel aluminum-ion battery in "An ultrafast rechargeable aluminum-ion battery," in the April 6 advance online edition of the journal Nature.
Aluminum has long been an attractive material for batteries, mainly because of its low cost, low flammability and high-charge storage capacity. For decades, researchers have tried unsuccessfully to develop a commercially viable aluminum-ion battery. A key challenge has been finding materials capable of producing sufficient voltage after repeated cycles of charging and discharging.
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http://phys.org/news/2015-04-ultra-fast-aluminum-battery-safe-alternative.html
phantom power
(25,966 posts)phantom power
(25,966 posts)I'm kind of curious about their concerns with voltage. You'd think voltage is the easiest problem. If you need to duplicate the voltage of a lithium ion, just stack two together.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)For example, about 1/2 of the thickness of a modern smartphone is the battery. Switching that to Al means thicker, heavier phones.
Of course, Li batteries took a long time to get to where they are now, so I'd expect Al to improve somewhat similarly.
eppur_se_muova
(36,274 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)K/R