—Lowering the cost of grid-storage batteries “New type of molten-salt battery could cost a fraction of lithium-ion devices” Researchers have developed a battery for storing energy for the electrical grid that they think could beat lithium-ion batteries in cost by a large margin (Matter 2020, DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.08.022).
by Prachi Patel, special to C&EN | September 16, 2020
—BASF Advances Battery Agenda “Energy Storage: Purchase of Merck KGaA’s electrolytes business bolsters battery materials unit” Advancing its goal of becoming a major supplier of battery materials for electric vehicles, BASF will buy the lithium electrolytes and additives business of the German drug and chemical firm Merck.
by Marc S. Reisch | February 27, 2012
—Building A Safer Button Battery “Pressure-sensitive coating stops current flow from button batteries when outside of devices” A new battery coating could help prevent burns from ingestion of so-called button batteries, the small disc batteries used to power such devices as watches. Last year, more than 3,300 people ingested button batteries, including more than 2,200 children under the age of six, according to the National Poison Data System.
by Celia Henry Arnaud | November 17, 2014
—Peering Inside An Exploding Battery “Battery Safety: High-resolution X-ray tomography coupled with thermal imaging provides detailed 3-D view of thermal runaway in a battery while it occurs” By coupling high-speed X-ray tomography and thermal imaging methods, researchers have demonstrated that events occurring inside a lithium-ion battery as it heats up and explodes can be imaged in high resolution and real time (Nat.
by Mitch Jacoby | May 04, 2015
An inherent shortcoming of vanadium flow batteries is that they have an energy density of about 30 W h/L, about 10% of that of lithium-ion batteries. But big lithium-ion batteries need to be spaced far apart in case they catch fire, so they still take up a lot of room, said Thomas Lüth, vice president of flow batteries at Voith Group, a provider of renewable energy services.
by Alex Scott | July 30, 2023
Industry analysts predict that by 2020, China alone will generate some 500,000 metric tons of used Li-ion batteries and that by 2030, the worldwide number will hit 2 million metric tons per year. If current trends for handling these spent batteries hold, most of those batteries may end up in landfills even though Li-ion batteries can be recycled.
by Mitch Jacoby | July 14, 2019