New catalyst brings commercial high-efficiency zinc-air batteries closer to reality

05-Jun-2024 - The effective conversion from fossil fuel-based to renewable energy sources requires cost-efficient, high-capacity, rechargeable batteries. Zinc-air batteries (ZAB) can theoretically store large amounts of energy, but current technologies require the use of expensive noble metal catalysts, or ...

Improving lithium-sulfur batteries with metal organic framework-based materials

04-Mar-2024 - Current lithium-ion battery technology does not have the energy density necessary to meet the demands for renewable energy. In theory, lithium-sulfur batteries could be a viable alternative with a higher specific capacity and energy density. However, sulfur has disadvantages that currently limit ...

Density matters for better battery material performance

Key to better electrochemical performance found?

23-Nov-2023 - Zinc — cheap, abundant, environmentally friendly — may be the answer to better batteries, but there’s a major problem: Aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) cannot match lithium-ion batteries in terms of power output. To test what electrode material composition might be able to bring AZIBs up to ...

Lithium-ion batteries are no longer the gold standard in battery tech

On the way to safer and more powerful energy sources

20-Nov-2023 - The use of lithium metal as the anode for batteries is one of the smarter options with better energy density than other materials. However, the interface between the electrode and electrolyte has quite a few issues that can be addressed for a safer and more functional outcome in the future. The ...

Bridging the best of both electrolyte worlds for a better lithium-ion battery

Researchers apply a ceramic conductor to a polymer electrolyte to increase conductivity

10-Nov-2023 - Lithium-ion batteries powered the device on which these words appear. From phones and laptops to electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries are critical to the technology of the modern world — but they can also explode. Comprising negatively and positively charged electrodes and an electrolyte to ...

Electrodes with hollow nanotubes improve performance of potassium-ion batteries

02-Nov-2023 - Researchers who are working to find alternatives to lithium-ion batteries have turned their attention to potassium-ion batteries. Potassium is an abundant resource and the technology functions in much the same way as lithium-ion batteries, but these batteries have not been developed at a large ...

Dual-Use Rechargeable Battery

Hybrid Battery Stores Electricity and Produces Valuable Chemicals at the Same Time

29-Jun-2023 - Rechargeable batteries store electricity in their electrode materials, while redox flow batteries use chemicals stored in tanks attached to the electrodes. Researchers have now developed a battery system based on a hybrid cell, which not only stores and provides electricity but also produces ...

Novel porous materials are ideal for metal-air batteries

13-Mar-2023 - Sustainable energy solutions cannot be pulled out of thin air. However, combining air with metal and other frameworks may pave the way for environmentally friendly energy conversion and storage, according to a research team based in China. They published their review of novel porous materials — ...

Novel preparation of next-generation anode delivers boost to lithium-ion batteries

04-Jan-2023 - The hunt for the next generation of materials for anodes in lithium-ion batteries has long suffered from a series of parasitic chemical reactions for many of the proposed replacements for the graphite thatis conventionally used. A novel preparation technique for a silicon-monoxide-carbon ...

How a common additive gives lithium-ion batteries a boost

Researchers have identified what makes a common electrolyte additive so effective at improving the performance of batteries using a lithium cobalt oxide cathode

28-Sep-2022 - Nitriles—an organic compound with a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom—are commonly added to the electrolyte formula for batteries using a lithium cobalt oxide cathode, making such batteries come much closer to realizing their full theoretical performance. Until now, battery researchers ...