Will this new battery be the next cheap alternative for limited power sources in a container?
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new battery from inexpensive materials that are very much available in big amounts in the world. This project was done to provide an alternative option to lithium-ion batteries, which are too expensive for operations and other processes.
The new battery architecture uses aluminum, sulfur, and a molten salt electrolyte to provide power to machines and systems. The researchers used aluminum and sulfur as the electrode materials for the battery in charge of providing electrons to the external circuit.
Researchers picked aluminum for being the second most abundant metal in the market, as it has the right electrochemical properties for an efficient battery. The dominant one, iron, did not fit what the experts wanted for their battery.
Sulfur became the second electrode material because of its accessibility and cheap market price. The salt electrolyte was chosen because the team didn’t want to use volatile, flammable organic liquids. This is because they can lead to fires in cars and other technologies that need a battery.
The study was done by MIT Professor Donald Sadoway, along with 15 others at MIT and in China, Canada, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Image credit: Rebecca Miller
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