The Smithsonian Institute believes battery research is at a tipping point. “The world is waiting on a battery breakthrough,” they say. Battery capacity and recycling life are holding back almost every sector of the electronics industry. Their cost is limiting the rollout of alternative energy grids and electric cars. Venkat Srinivasan of the DOE calls these three points places where people intersect with batteries. And they are so, so very important for the future of our industry.
Pain Points in Places Where People Intersect With Batteries
Each of these three ‘buckets’ of requirements’ faces unique, but overlapping challenges. Smartphones, wearables, and other mobile equipment need batteries that are compact and safe. Cost and weight are relatively less important. But with electric vehicles, these are paramount. But by comparison, with grid-size storage capacity is the key.
Perhaps this disparity of needs is why Stefano Passerini of the Journal of Power Sources claims, “progress on the advancement of batteries is much slower than in other fields, and this is an intrinsic limitation of batteries.” But there is progress going on behind the scenes, in these places where people intersect with batteries with sharp academic minds.
The Smithsonian’s View on the Future of Lithium Batteries
Lithium batteries are getting closer to their limits in terms of size, and this is beginning to be at the cost of safety and capacity. Now, engineers are looking to graphite anode lattices for an answer, because they are able to absorb more ions. Others think we should do away with lithium completely, and replace it magnesium or sodium.
The greatest naysayers for renewable energy are habit, resistance to change, and the huge sum of money in fossil. Perhaps we have the same problem moving away from lithium. What do you think? Have we become battery dinosaurs? What should convince us to take the next giant step?
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Preview Image: Green Energy
