Scientists from Texas A&M University have found that metal-free, water-based battery electrodes can store up to 10 times more energy than before!
This new type of battery is different from lithium-ion batteries because it doesn’t contain any metal. Scientists are studying this kind of battery because sourcing cobalt and lithium, which is usually needed to make batteries, from outside the USA makes it hard to control the supply. The research team is also looking into this type of battery because they are safer and will reduce the risk of fire.
Two professors, Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus (who teaches chemical engineering) and Dr. Daniel Tabor (who teaches chemistry), have created a new kind of battery which does not require lithium to work. They announced their discovery in a journal called “Nature Materials”.
Lutkenhaus said no more fires because the new battery is water-based. If there is a shortage of parts in the future for lithium-ion batteries, their cost will be very high – but if we have this other type of battery, it can be made cheaply and easily here in the United States with materials that are also available here.
Aqueous batteries are made of three parts: a cathode, an electrolyte, and an anode. The cathodes and anodes are materials used to store energy inside the battery. The electrolyte is water with organic salts mixed in, which helps the electrical energy flow between the electrodes.
When an electrode starts to balloon up it can make the electrons have trouble moving around, which causes your stuff’s performance to tank. I think that different electrolytes have the capacity to store energy 1000% better due to less swelling.
Scientists are researching special electrodes called redux-active, non-conjugated radical polymers that could be used in metal-free aqueous batteries. These types of electrodes can have very high discharge voltages and fast reactions which makes them attractive for this purpose. But the reaction is hard to understand because lots of electrons, ions and water molecules move around at the same time.
The researchers used specialized tools to study the nature of a redox reaction in liquids with different properties. They did experiments and computer simulations which gave them an understanding at the very small level of molecules, structures, and movements.
Researchers use computers to experiment with battery cathodes and figure out how much water and salt goes into the battery. They charge up the electrodes to different levels, and then look at how the material responds. By looking at this behavior, they can tell if the battery is working well with certain salts in it.
He said we did what we did to understand something that was shown on an experiment. We want to take the simulation further and figure out why the water and other liquids get injected into things. We need to make sure that our idea of what forces are doing this is correct.
The scientists have developed a new energy storage technology which means that lithium-free batteries will now be possible. This knowledge gives them a better understanding of what makes some battery electrodes work better than others, and this can help designers make materials for the future.
This project was made possible by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the National Science Foundation, through Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. It’s titled “The role of the electrolyte in non-conjugated radical polymers for metal-free aqueous energy storage electrodes” and it got published on 27 March 2023 in Nature Materials Magazine (DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01518-z).
