Safe, Economical and Fast-Charging Aluminum-ion Batteries

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA, USA. A fast-charging, low-cost, aluminum battery is the current invention from Stanford, which is characterized as an aluminum-ion battery. It is a very safe technology according to the researchers, unlike alkaline batteries that are very harmful for the environment and lithium-ion batteries which are highly flammable.

For more than 10 years, aluminum was eyed as a very good substance to use for batteries. It is not only safe, but it is also very economical and has a high-charge storage capacity. Unfortunately, creating a commercially feasible battery had failed in the past years.

One aspect researchers have been trying to prolong is the material’s endurance. The usual aluminum battery can only charge-discharge up to 100 cycles. When scientists at Stanford tested the new ultra-fast battery for the first time, it was able to take on 7,500 cycles. Elasticity is also one of the factors of an aluminum battery which can be beneficial. It would be possible to bend and fold the material making it very useful in electronic devices.

“Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.” This is according to Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford and head of the research team. Discovering that using graphite (which is carbon) as the cathode was the solution to obtaining reliable performance. They tested the battery by drilling through it to show how safe it was. It never flamed up or exploded in their videos. This shows that ultimate battery performance was accomplished in their study.

The researchers are still improving the battery to have a similar voltage as to that of a lithium-ion battery. Currently, the aluminum-ion battery only achieves half the voltage compared to lithium. But it is expected to boost both the voltage and energy quantity anytime soon.

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