There has been quite a flurry of new battery ideas on our pages recently. One thing is for sure though. Electric vehicle owners, and grid-scale energy storage are demanding only the very best. We took a look around the media to identify trends in greener batteries that seemed really noteworthy, as opposed to academic research for the sake of it.
Why the Interest in Trends in Greener Batteries Now?
All batteries have three primary components, namely anode, cathode, and electrolyte. Lithium batteries have a particular combination of materials that allow high performance. But lithium technology is gradually leveling out, while environmental and safety concerns continue to raise doubts.
It can only be a matter of time before innovative trends in greener batteries deliver a worthy successor. Some more interesting alternatives, with apparent potential include the following:
- PJP Eye’s Cambrian Battery that charges 10-times faster than lithium-ion. Its cathode is a base metal blend of copper, lead, nickel and zinc.
- Helmholtz Institute has found a way to take sodium ions from sea water. It accumulates sodium as stored energy, and releases this when required.
- Flint’s cellulose paper batteries have wafer-thin zinc and manganese-based electrodes. The cells are strong, flexible and may be cut to shape.
- Tohoku University developed a prototype calcium battery with 500 recycles. Calcium is an abundant material with higher energy density that lithium.
The Search for Truly Recyclable Batteries Continues
A recyclable product can be decomposed and used to create something else useful. Mother Nature has this technology taped, with the way it uses seeds from plants and trees to generate fresh life.
There’s an intriguing analogy of this evolving in battery research. This correlation refers to how organic life on earth naturally recycles itself. We can never speak unequivocally of renewable energy, until we have truly green batteries. However, undoubtedly, human ingenuity will eventually get us there.
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