Aluminum Battery Charges Quickly and Won't Catch Fire

Apr-08-15 Using aluminum, Stanford chemists have created an affordable, fast-charging and high-performing battery that could replace many conventional batteries.

Researchers have been interested in using aluminum to build batteries for some time, but they have been stymied by the inability to find materials able to maintain a charge after several cycles.

The new battery features an aluminum anode and a positively charged graphite cathode submerged in an ionic liquid (salt) electrolyte. According to Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford, the graphite discovery was made accidentally, and the team has already determined which graphite materials perform the best. As well as added safety, the aluminum-based battery prototype showed "unprecedented charging times" of as little as one minute, and was able to undergo over 75,000 charging cycles without losing efficiency. The quick storage and release abilities of the battery also make it very attractive as a way to store off-grid renewable energy.

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[ENGADGET.COM]
[NEWS.STANFORD.EDU]

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