A new concept for an aluminium battery has twice the energy density as previous versions, is made of abundant materials, and could lead to reduced production costs and environmental impact. The idea has potential for large scale applications, including storage of solar and wind energy. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia, are behind the idea.
Using aluminium battery technology could offer several advantages,
Including a high theoretical energy density and the fact that there already exists an established industry for its manufacturing and recycling. Compared with today's lithium-ion batteries.
The material costs and environmental impacts that we envisage from our new concept are much lower than what we see today, making them feasible for large scale usage, such as solar cell parks, or storage of wind energy, for example
Additionally, new battery concept has twice the energy density compared with the aluminium batteries that are 'state of the art' today.
The graphite has been replaced by an organic, nanostructured cathode, made of the carbon-based molecule anthraquinone.
The advantage of this organic molecule in the cathode material is that it enables storage of positive charge-carriers from the electrolyte, the solution in which ions move between the electrodes, which make possible higher energy density in the battery.
The batteries can make better usage of aluminium's potential. Now, we are continuing the work by looking for an even better electrolyte.
The current version contains chlorine
Aluminium batteries are only half as energy dense as lithium-ion batteries, but our long-term goal is to achieve the same energy density. But aluminium is in principle a significantly better charge carrier than lithium Furthermore the batteries have the potential to be significantly less environmentally harmful.
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