Everyone is researching in the field of batteries, because it is one of the keys on which the new electrification that is upon us revolves, both in cars and in systems for storing electrical energy that can be used later.
Today the standard batteries are lithium, which are expensive and need special and scarce materials to be produced. And in addition, to obtain lithium, there are consumed enormous amounts of water, which is also less abundant every day. Therefore, it is urgent to find cheaper and above all more sustainable alternatives with our natural environment, and to do it as quickly as possible.
One of the possibilities that has been discussed recently has been published in the journal Nature by researchers from MIT and other universities. It is a new battery based on 3 materials (you can see them in the photo below) that are very common in nature: aluminium, sulfur and salt crystals.
When carrying out their developments, the researchers began thinking about the most common materials in nature and that could be capable of being part of a battery. Eliminating some and preselecting others, they came to specify the three indicated above.
With aluminum and sulfur they make part of the anode and cathode of the battery, and some salts are part of the electrolyte between them. These salts have the advantage of not forming "dentrites" during the charge and discharge cycles, so they are more stable than lithium batteries, and this battery does not burn.
The estimated costs are of the order of a sixth of current lithium batteries (it is a first estimate at the moment), and recharging tests have been carried out in just over a minute. But there are still many tests to be done.
With these new batteries, it would be possible to obtain units that would provide capacities of several tens of KW/h., which would be very suitable for powering cars and the needs of single-family homes.
And for higher power capacities, they have another type of battery with a different chemical composition that they can bring to market. And since they are not stupid, with the aim of bringing both types of batteries to the market, they have formed two companies to negotiate technology transfer contracts.
The news seems too good to be true and I hope it all works out, but for now we will have to wait a few years (I hope not too many) to see practical results.
Hopefully we will soon have sustainable, cheap, efficient and reliable batteries. They would be a great support point to achieve the electric revolution that we need to carry out.
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