They do not use lithium-ion batteries for safety reasons. Zinc is the alternative — it has passed the tests and could be revolutionary.
A team of researchers in Mexico have developed a revolutionary zinc-air battery (ZAB) that continues to function even after being punctured, exposed to flame or completely submerged in water.
“We do not use lithium-ion batteries due to many safety concerns associated with the flammability of the electrolytes used in this type of technology”, explained Noé Arjona, main researcher at the center, to
Inside the cell, a carbon sheet peppered with individual nickel atoms replaces conventional metal electrodes. This innovation significantly reduces the amount of metal required while maintaining high performance.
“Many metals also raise safety concerns when used in batteries,” Arjona added. “Most of the most active materials are on the critical materials lists. Therefore, we wanted to use as little metal as possible”, says the researcher.
To analyze the innovative prototype at the molecular level, the authors of the published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron at the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada.
“In Canada there is a big problem with recharging batteries at very low temperatures, as happens with electric vehicles”, said the researcher. “Our technology does not suffer from the same problems at very low or very high temperatures.”
And he adds: “If we want highly safe batteries, we have to design them with single-atom catalysts.” Arjona believes that “this is the future of energy storage”.
