Lithium metal

This year served up a stellar crop of battery advances that resulted from researchers thinking outside the box, reimagining these devices and the way they function. Let's take a look at the most creative and interesting examples.

Scientists have taken aim at inactive clumps of lithium that build up over a battery's lifetime and shown how they can be brought back to life to boost the performance of the device and potentially unlock next-gen designs with far greater densities.

Two promising avenues in the development of next-energy storage involve the use of lithium metal and an electrolyte that is solid rather than liquid, and new research brings these branches of battery research together in an exciting new breakthrough.

Scientists have used cellulose derived from wood as the basis for a solid battery electrolyte, which is paper-thin and can bend and flex to absorb stress as the battery is cycled, while also offering record high conductivity.

Material scientists have taken a step forward in the development of lithium-metal batteries, demonstrating how applying a very specific amount of pressure during cycling can prevent the formation of growths that would otherwise bring them undone.

Many renewable energy technologies require metals that are mined through environmentally destructive processes. Now, Oxford scientists are investigating a new way to mine valuable metals trapped in hot brines beneath volcanoes.

A research group in the US has taken a significant step forward with a design for a long-lasting lithium metal battery with high capacity, which remained functional for a record-breaking number of charging cycles.

Scientists have put forward a solution to a major problem plaguing lithium metal batteries, demonstrating how a finely tuned carbon membrane can prevent these types of battery form failure and enable them to be safely charged over hundreds of cycles.

The ocean holds billions of tons of lithium, and scientists have just tested a new way of extracting it, with a device that takes in seawater and pumps out freshwater and lithium phosphate – plus more than enough H2 and chlorine to pay the power bill.

Scientists have made a breakthrough that overcomes a technical issue that has held back highly promising lithium-metal battery architecture, which could pave the way for batteries with as much as 10 times the capacity of today's devices.