Sulfur

A new battery from MIT uses common materials – aluminum, sulfur and salt. Not only is the battery low-cost, but it’s resistant to fire and failures, and can be charged very fast, making it useful for powering a home or charging electric vehicles.

Most batteries have a cathode on one side and an anode on the other, with a separator between them. Engineers at Cornell University have developed an unusual new structure that intertwines the components together in a swirling shape, which they say lets the device recharge in a matter of seconds.

Researchers in China believe they’re cracked the code on the elusive lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. Using three-dimensional (3D) graphene, the Beihang University researchers structured Li-S in such a way that they show high, real-world potential on both the cathode and anode sides.