CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 18, 2022 — Research from MIT and Kyushu University suggests that light could provide significantly improved performance to fuel cells, lithium batteries, and other devices that rely on the movement of charged atoms. The work introduces and demonstrates a way to use light to lower the barrier encountered by ions at grain boundaries. The method increases the flow of ions by a factor of three.
“We expect that we should be able to increase that to orders of magnitude by optimizing the system,” said Harry Tuller, the R.P. Simmons Professor of Ceramics and Electronic Materials in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
The researchers demonstrated the effect of light on the movement of oxygen ions through a popular solid electrolyte composed of ceria and gadolinium.
MIT professor Harry L. Tuller (right), graduate student Thomas…