In a paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers explain that the new battery architecture uses aluminum and sulphur as its two electrode materials.
“I wanted to invent something that was better, much better, than lithium-ion batteries for small-scale stationary storage, and ultimately for automotive [uses],” Donald Sadoway, lead author of the study, said in a media statement.
In addition to being expensive, lithium-ion batteries contain a flammable electrolyte, making them less than ideal for transportation. So, Sadoway started studying the periodic table, looking for cheap, abundant metals that might be able to substitute for lithium.
The commercially dominant metal, iron, doesn’t have the right electrochemical properties for an efficient battery. But the second-most-abundant metal in the marketplace — and actually the most abundant metal on earth — is…
New aluminum-sulphur battery developed to lower cost of energy storage
