Unlocking the Future of Sustainable Power: Introducing the Revolutionary Aluminum Radical Battery

2023-09-18 03:55:37

New Aluminum Radical Battery Promises More Sustainable Power

Scientists are developing the world’s first non-toxic aqueous aluminum radical battery. This new battery design, which uses water-based electrolytes, offers fire retardancy, air stability, and a potential for higher energy density than current lithium-ion batteries.

Slack was down, with issues loading pages and sending messages

Researchers are making significant progress in developing the world’s first safe and efficient non-toxic aqueous aluminum radical battery. The teams from Flinders University in South Australia and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in China have reported the initial stage of this groundbreaking project in an article published by the prestigious Journal of American Chemistry.

Most batteries pose environmental hazards due to their toxic content. Flinders University and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University scientists are specifically addressing this issue by developing a non-toxic aqueous aluminum radical battery, which utilizes water-based electrolytes. This innovation offers both fire retardancy and air stability, while having the potential to achieve higher energy density compared to prevailing lithium-ion batteries.

Dr. Kai Zhang from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and Associate Professor Zhongfan Jia’s research lab at Flinders University have collaborated on the (electro)chemistry of stable radicals using Lewis acid electrolyte (Al(Otf)₃) and battery testing.

Steam Trap Market to hit USD 6.2 Bn by 2032, Says Global

The team has successfully designed the first iteration of aluminum radical batteries with water-based electrolytes that are fire-retardant and air-stable. These batteries demonstrate a stable voltage output of 1.25 V and a capacity of 110 mAh g^–1 over 800 cycles, with only a minimal loss of 0.028% per cycle.

Professor Zhongfan Jia, belonging to Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering, envisions using biodegradable materials in the development of soft-pack batteries in the future, ensuring their safety and sustainability.

Rail passengers set for disruption as engineering work between Chesterfield and Sheffield leads to delays and diversions – with no trains to some Derbyshire stations

A graphic describing the research. Credit: Flinders University

Multivalent metal ion batteries, including Al³⁺, Zn²⁺, or Mg²⁺, utilize elements that are abundantly available in the Earth’s crust. These batteries offer significantly higher energy density than traditional lithium-ion batteries, as highlighted by Professor Jia.

Professor Jia further explains, “In particular, aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) attract great attention because aluminum is the third most abundant element (8.1%), which makes AIBs potentially a sustainable and low-cost energy storage system.”

Medicated Feed Market Size, Key Players Analysis and Forecast To 2029 – Evonik, DowDuPont, DSM, Adisseo

However, a key challenge faced by current AIBs revolves around the slow movement of Al³⁺ ion complexes, resulting in low cathode efficiency. To address this issue, organic conjugated polymers have emerged as potential cathodes for AIBs. Nevertheless, these polymers still exhibit poor battery voltage output performance.

Stable radicals, which are a class of organic electroactive molecules, have been successfully employed in various organic battery systems. NEC® commercialized the first radical battery in 2012.

While radical materials have been extensively used in organic hybrid LIBs, sodium-ion batteries, and all-organic batteries, the Jia Lab at Flinders University has pioneered their application in AIBs, thereby opening doors to new possibilities for aluminum radical batteries and advancing our understanding of their (electro)chemical reactions in electrolytes.

SkyWater Technology to Participate in Jefferies Semiconductor, IT Hardware & Communications Technology Summit

Reference: “Lewis Acid-Induced Reversible Disproportionation of TEMPO Enables Aqueous Aluminum Radical Batteries” by Shangxu Jiang, Yihui Xie, Yuan Xie, Li-Juan Yu, Xiaoqing Yan, Fu-Gang Zhao, Chanaka J. Mudugamuwa, Michelle L. Coote, Zhongfan Jia and Kai Zhang, 23 June 2023, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c04203

The study received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Australian Research Council.

If you would like to know other articles similar to Unlocking the Future of Sustainable Power: Introducing the Revolutionary Aluminum Radical Battery updated this year 2024 you can visit the category Bussines.