Lithium-ion
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An MIT team has developed an electrolyte solution that can accommodate high-capacity lithium-metal battery chemistry, paving the way for electric cars and mobile devices that could last far longer on each charge.
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By swapping out conventional materials for experimental ones scientists continue to make exciting advances in the performance of lithium batteries, and a team in Japan has just published research around a particularly promising one.
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Owing to its abundance and low cost, lead is an alternative battery material with plenty of appeal, and scientists have just demonstrated how it can form the basis of a new anode that offers far greater storage capacity than graphite.
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QuantumScape has announced stunning performance figures for what may be the first commercially viable solid-state lithium-metal battery. It's claimed to add as much as 80% to the range of an electric car, and charge from 0-80% in just 15 minutes.
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A new breakthrough could boost the eco-credentials of an environmentally friendly form of lithium battery even further, by restoring it to its original condition once it is spent using just a fraction of the energy of current approaches.
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We got it wrong, folks. The Superbattery from Skeleton Technologies is not a hybrid battery/ultracapacitor energy system, it's an entire new type of cell that sits somewhere in between the two. And it will make it into EVs – just not how we expected.
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French company Nawa technologies says it's already in production on a new electrode material that can radically boost the performance of existing and future battery types, delivering 3x the energy density, 10x the power, and vastly faster charging.
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A new device from engineers at TU Delft overcomes some of the dependability issues of lithium-metal batteries thanks to a new electrolyte that breaks down and forms a key protective layer during charging.
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Just because a lithium-ion battery no longer holds a charge doesn't mean it no longer holds any value. It still contains useful metals, which can now be reclaimed via a more eco-friendly technique – the key ingredient is orange peel waste.
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Plans are afoot to build a monster battery cell production facility in the UK, but it's not going to another Tesla Gigafactory. Startup Britishvolt expects construction of its 30-GWh GigaPlant to start in Wales next year.
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Carefully introducing new materials into the design of today’s lithium-ion batteries has the potential to greatly improve their performance, and scientists have just happened upon a promising possibility in carbon nanotubes.
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Despite advances in new battery designs, good old lithium-ion batteries are still the frontrunner. There’s plenty of room for improvement though, and now researchers have identified a new cathode coating that could make them safer and longer lasting.