Lithium metal

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.