Innovative battery design: more energy and less environmental impact

Optimised method makes batteries greener

09-Jul-2024 - A new electrolyte design for lithium metal batteries could significantly boost the range of electric vehicles. Researchers at ETH Zurich have radically reduced the amount of environmentally harmful fluorine required to stabilise these batteries. Lithium metal batteries are among the most ...

Replicating the structure of bird feathers

The new material could be used in batteries or filtration

04-Dec-2023 - Modelled on nature: researchers have developed a new material that replicates the structure responsible for the blue feathers of the North American song bird, among many other birds. It also has other striking advantages. The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. ...

Progress in alternative battery technology

Revolutionary battery concept: Researchers point the way to cheap, powerful and environmentally friendly batteries

25-Apr-2023 - It is not easy to make batteries cheap, efficient, durable, safe and environmentally friendly at the same time. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in uniting all of these characteristics in zinc metal batteries. The world needs cheap and powerful batteries that can store sustainably ...

A battery with a twist

25-Sep-2019 - Markus Niederberger’s team of researchers at ETH has used stretchable materials to develop a battery that can be bent, stretched and twisted. For applications in bendable electronic devices, this is precisely the kind of battery they need. Today’s electronics industry is increasingly focusing on ...

Low-cost battery from waste graphite

13-Oct-2017 - Lithium ion batteries are flammable and the price of the raw material is rising. Are there alternatives? Yes: Empa and ETH Zürich researchers have discovered promising approaches as to how we might produce batteries out waste graphite and scrap metal. Kostiantyn Kravchyk works in the group of ...

Liquid fuel for future computers

16-Mar-2017 - Researchers at ETH Zurich and IBM Research Zurich have built a tiny redox flow battery. This means that future computer chip stacks -- in which individual chips are stacked like pancakes to save space and energy -- could be supplied with electrical power and cooled at the same time by such ...

Solid batteries improve safety

09-Aug-2016 - Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a lithium-ion battery made entirely of solid material: it contains neither liquids nor gels. The battery cannot ignite, even at very high temperatures, giving it a safety advantage over conventional batteries. In addition, they allow new forms of battery ...