Northwestern University in Illinois, United States, has its eyes looking ahead towards sustainable high capacity batteries. Their engineers have an ongoing project focusing on the atomic ordering of cathode materials. They hope to move on from lithium-ion batteries using scarce, and expensive elements like cobalt and nickel.
Why Do We Need This Research Now?
The Northwestern team hopes their research will enhance sustainability, and soften the impact of supply chain challenges. Their research focuses on achieving sustainable high capacity batteries, by systematically modeling and controlling atomic ordering in cathode materials.
However, their overreaching goal, as we have said, is to design high-capacity batteries using earth-abundant elements. To this end, they have recently completed fresh research in conjunction with Toyota Motor Corporation.
Both Toyota and Northwestern set themselves the goal of finding a path towards more sustainable, higher-capacity lithium-ion batteries. Their work could make a great difference to users of smartphones, electric vehicles, portable chargers, and more.
The result of their work could provide a road map for other scientists investigating this field. This should particularly interest those hoping to reduce reliance on limited mineral supplies, by shifting across to other, more available materials.
Fresh Thinking for Sustainable High Capacity Batteries
We need to take a deep dive into science for a moment. Atomic ordering in chemistry refers to the rearrangement of constituent atoms, within a material to create a specific pattern.
The Northwestern study, that we link to below, confirms that “controlling atomic ordering within a material” changes the way it behaves. This, the researchers hope, will be an alternative route to improving battery storage capacity.
“We’ve shown that controlling ordering tendencies – which might seem like an abstract physical concept – can have very real industrial impacts,” their report confirms. This discovery could guide battery scientists to more effective use of earth-abundant materials.
More Information
More About Batteries and How They Work
Manufacturing High Performance Cathodes
Preview Image: Ordering Enables High‐Capacity Materials
