Battery tech is going to be extremely important in the future, with all of our gadgets, cars, and possibly even homes at times to be powered by batteries.
Researchers at Cambridge University have performed some tests on a new design for a lithium-air battery, managing to solve a number of the problems associated with the new technology. The results were published in Science.
The particular lithium-air battery that was designed by the researchers was able to be recharged over 2,000 times, and, according to the researchers, the battery is theoretically 90 percent efficient in its energy use.
Not only that, but the researchers were also able to reduce the "voltage gap" in the battery, which is a measure of efficiency. Using the new design, they were able to reduce the voltage gap to 0.2V, which is close to what a lithium-ion battery has.
The advantages for lithium-air batteries over today's lithium-ion batteries could be huge, with lithium-air cells able to store energy far more densely than lithium-ion batteries. What this means is that an electric car manufacturer could make a smaller, lighter battery that has just as much power, or have a battery of the same size that can last a lot longer.
Having a smaller battery, however, will also enable cars to drive further as it won't take as much power to drive the same distance, simply because the car is lighter.
Until now, however, researchers have only been able to operate such a battery when it is operating in pure oxygen rather than in a regular air environment.
"What we really want is a [true] lithium-air battery—one that just takes in air, without having to remove CO2, nitrogen and water," said professor Clare Grey, the senior author on the paper, in an interview with the BBC. "And now we have a system that at least tolerates a lot of water."
The announcement is certainly exciting for the future of lithium-air battery technology, although the researchers say that we're still at least a decade away from commercially available lithium-air batteries.
Via: SlashGear
