“Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.”
Aluminium is cheap and has low flammability and high-charge storage capacity.
But scientists have struggled to make a commercially viable aluminium-ion battery because of the difficulty in finding materials capable of producing sufficient voltage after repeated cycles of charging and discharging.
The aluminum-ion battery consists of two electrodes; a negatively charged anode made of aluminum and a positively charged graphite cathode along with an ionic liquid electrolyte, inside a flexible polymer-coated pouch.
Stanford graduate student Ming Gong added: “The electrolyte is basically a salt that’s liquid at room temperature, so it’s very safe. Lithium-ion batteries can be a fire hazard.
“In our study, we have videos showing that you can drill through the aluminium battery pouch, and it will continue working for a while longer without catching fire.
“But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner in the air, the car or in your pocket. Besides safety, we have achieved major breakthroughs in aluminium battery performance.”
And while lithium-ion battery can take hours to charge, the new battery has “unprecedented charging times” of down to one minute.
Unlike other prototypes which die after just 100 charges, the Stanford battery can withstand more than 7,500 cycles without any loss of capacity.
By comparison, a typical lithium-ion battery lasts about 1,000 cycles.
Mr Gong added: “Another feature of the aluminum battery is flexibility.
“You can bend it and fold it, so it has the potential for use in flexible electronic devices. Aluminium is also a cheaper metal than lithium.”
However at present the rechargeable aluminium battery generates about two volts of electricity, the highest achieved yet with aluminium.”
Prof Dai said: “Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery.
“But improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density.
“Otherwise, our battery has everything else you’d dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It’s quite exciting.”
Scientists invent aluminium battery that charges a phone in a minute - Telegraph.co.uk
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