Cheap minerals are expected to make better batteries
The batteries in Ontario, California, USA are used to store renewable energy in case of high electricity demand. Due to the development of calcium-based battery electrolytes, the price of such systems may fall. Image source: Patrick T. Fallon
Calcium can replace lithium in batteries that store solar and wind energy. A newly synthesized chemical may pave the way for the manufacture of calcium-based batteries, which are safer and cheaper than current lithium-based batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries in mobile phones and other electronic devices have many disadvantages: not only do they sometimes catch fire, they also rely on increasingly scarce and toxic substances such as lithium and cobalt. Anode batteries made of calcium (which are extremely rich in reserves) may be more durable and safer than lithium anode batteries. But scientists who study calcium batteries lack a suitable electrolyte—the medium through which the charge inside the battery flows.
Zhirong Zhao-Karger and colleagues at the Helmholtz Institute in Ulm, Germany, reacted a calcium compound with a fluorine-containing compound to create a new type of calcium salt. The conductivity efficiency of this material is higher than any calcium-based electrolytes reported so far. It can also conduct ions efficiently at higher voltages than other calcium-based electrolytes.
In a recent study published in "Energy and Environmental Science", the authors stated that calcium-based batteries have a wide range of use, and that they can store wind and solar energy in industrial-scale systems in the future. (Feng Weiwei)
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