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Japan to subsidize up to HALF THE COST of mine development and smelting projects for lithium and other minerals

May 08, 2023 - anode materials, and is also responsible for nearly all the rare-earth mineral processing in the world.

Back in 2010, China temporarily stopped exports of rare-earth materials to Japan. The export ban stemmed from a territorial conflict over the Senkaku Islands – which are claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan. The resulting supply shortage interrupted the Japanese manufacturing industry and caused prices to soar.

Determined not to repeat this mistake, the Japanese ...

Antimony-carbon anode could pave the way for developing next-gen batteries

May 04, 2019 -

Potassium is an abundant mineral that possesses similar redox potential as lithium. Researchers have been investigating potassium-based batteries as replacements for lithium-ion energy storage systems that have plateaued in terms of potential.

However, potassium also suffers from drawbacks. It has a large ion radius and it reacts rather slowly. As such, the anodes of potassium-ion batteries can only handle limited amounts of energy and degrade rather quickly.

Many ...

Engineers develop high energy density all-solid-state batteries

August 05, 2019 -

The hydride lithium superionic conductor arranges clusters of hydrogen anions (negative ions) into specialized structures. The material displays far greater stability against lithium metal, the current benchmark for electrode materials in batteries.

Researchers from Tohoku University (Tohoku) and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) described their new conductor as the best anode material for all-solid-state batteries.

Standard lithium-ion ...

Latest lithium-ion battery uses water-salt solution, reducing risk of fire and explosion in household electronics

September 19, 2017 - anode, water molecules begin to move away from the electrode surface. After the first charge, this coating breaks down into a thin mixture, separating the solid anode from the liquid electrolyte. The mixture, called an interphase, protects the anode from reactions that weaken its power. The gel protection allows the battery to cycle more efficiently and achieve greater energy density.

"The key innovation here is making the right gel that can ...

Scientists look to magnesium for better electric vehicle batteries

September 02, 2021 - anodes can store five times more energy compared to graphite anodes in lithium-ion batteries. "Rechargeable batteries based on magnesium … have the potential to extend electric vehicle range by packing more energy into smaller batteries," it adds.

But magnesium ions had difficulty moving through solid material, which gave lithium ions over it. Furthermore, a 2017 study found that magnesium batteries have the potential to degrade even before their first ...

“Holy grail” electric vehicle battery takes design cues from BLT sandwich

June 16, 2021 - anode, cathode and electrolyte. The electrolyte separates the anode and the cathode and moves the electrical current between the two components. Chemicals are typically used for battery electrolytes, with lithium-ion batteries using lithium compounds in liquid or gel form. On the other hand, lithium metal batteries use pure metallic lithium for their electrolyte component.

During charging, the electrolyte in lithium batteries – whether chemical or solid ...

Paving the way to faster power: Scientists discover adding asphalt to lithium-ion batteries makes them charge up to 20 times faster

October 12, 2017 - anode, which is the positively or negatively charged electrode by which the electrons leave a device or supply current, respectively. The anode was then combined with a cathode of sulfurized carbon – because pure sulfur tends to react with many chemicals, and using this material can create the possibility of damaging the battery as a whole – to create the final product.

The research team tested these new asphalt-lithium metal batteries over more than 500 ...

Old chemistry may be the secret to new batteries for storing renewable energy

March 22, 2018 -

Compared with lithium ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries still have a lot of catching up to do as far as the design of their anodes are concerned. For their special sodium-ion batteries, the researchers who conducted the study relied on a method of designing electrodes that is rooted in old chemistry research.

The study was conducted by researchers from Natron Energy, a Palo Alto, California-based batter technology company, with the help from scientists at New ...

Wastewater treatment plants may soon generate electricity for cities thanks to improved microbial fuel cells

March 18, 2018 - anodes in order to measure what kind of impact making a chance to them can have. After careful consideration, the researchers went with a new design for a new MFC prototype that's involves the use of modified graphite felt as an anode. This one simple change is what brought the researchers positive results.

"The modification of the anode allowed to increase the cell voltage; it is 20 percent higher than that of the control MFC with the usual anode....

Wearable electronic devices could be powered by human sweat

August 24, 2017 -

As part of the study, a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego used lithography and screen-printing techniques to develop 3D carbon nanotube-based cathode and anode arrays. The arrays were then fitted with an enzyme that oxidizes the lactic acid in human sweat in order to generate current. This effect that turns sweat into a power source.The initial process of creating the biofuel cells

The researchers adopted a bridge-and-island structure ...

Researchers develop high-energy magnesium batteries that can store more energy

March 27, 2019 - anode. The cathodes were made from quinone polymers, while the anode was magnesium.

In the experiment, a kilogram of chloride-free electrolyte and organic-metallic electrode could hold 3.4 kilowatts of energy. The peak discharge of this battery was 243 watt hours. It could be charged and discharged for 2,500 times without losing efficiency.

These findings could lead to the development of a high-energy magnesium battery, which researchers have been ...

Revolutionary battery can self-assemble and charge your phone in SECONDS

September 06, 2018 -

A conventional battery is composed of an anode on one side and a cathode on another, separated by a non-conducting separator. The researchers decided to do away with this arrangement in favor of a self-assembling, 3D gyroidal structure in which all components – including those required to store and transmit charges – are embedded in thousands of nanopores.

Ulrich Weisner, one of the authors of the study, called their creation a truly “revolutionary battery ...

New catalyst material can help spur the rise of lithium-sulfur batteries

February 28, 2021 - anode (negatively charged electrode), which effectively reduces the lifespan of the batteries and may even cause them to catch fire.

The researchers then looked for a catalyst – a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without undergoing any permanent chemical change – that can make the degradation of LSBs reversible during use.

"While looking for a new electrocatalyst for the LSBs, we recalled a previous study we had performed with cobalt ...

Next-gen solar cells use bacteria that convert light into energy

September 21, 2018 - anode for the current to flow, and they managed to generate a current with an impressively high density. They were able to double the amount of electricity collected compared to other bacteria-based solar cells, although it still falls short of the amount needed to compete with traditional solar panels.

As promising as this sounds, there are still some obstacles to overcome. One of the biggest roadblocks is the fact that the bacteria die during the process. If ...

Zinc battery breakthrough may allow homes to efficiently store energy for off-grid use

October 19, 2017 - anode versions are inexpensive and could potentially be mass-produced as the main ingredient is an abundant metal found on Earth.

These are lofty goals, to be sure, and it remains to be seen if these power devices will be commercially marketed in the near future. Things that go boom in the night

To fully grasp the gravity of this discovery, it would do well to understand the dangers and risks of lithium-ion batteries. Once hailed as the power source of ...

Researchers are “storing” energy using eggshells with new conductive material

November 19, 2019 - anode and an electrolyte that didn't use any water.Using chicken eggshells as sustainable materials for electrodes in batteries

After measuring the maximum amount of energy that the test cell stored, the researchers ran the battery through more than 1,000 charging and discharging cycles. They kept track of how much the battery's energy storage capacity degraded with repeated cycles.

The test battery achieved excellent results. It retained up to 92 percent ...

Tiny disorganized crystals may hold the key to new magnesium battery energy storage technology

April 17, 2019 - anodes. Lithium-ion systems were restricted to using carbon anodes that have a lower capacity than pure metal equivalents because these were safer. An anode made of pure lithium could trigger short circuits and fires that pose considerable danger to humans.

In comparison, metal anodes made from pure magnesium were much more stable and safer. A magnesium-based battery with a working cathode material would not only be smaller than a lithium-ion ...

Soaring metal prices may delay ongoing transition to clean energy

August 04, 2021 -

In its recent report titled "The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions," the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the surge in demand for minerals used in solar panels, wind turbines and batteries is straining supplies, sending prices soaring.

In particular, raw materials used in batteries are expected to garner the biggest surge in demand. For instance, the demand for lithium, an anode material in batteries, could grow over 40 times if countries ...

How does a metal light enough to be moved by humans become explosion proof?

September 12, 2019 - anode cage that made it possible to apply an even layer of nano-crystal coating on the entire lattice. The technique also works on foams with sizable surface areas and show compatibility with industrial production.

The Saarland researchers are some of the world's foremost experts on porous metal lattices and their micro-mechanical characterization. They evaluated the structure of the foam, the shape of the pores, and the curvature of the struts.

They showed ...

Magnesium battery breakthrough means safer batteries that won’t explode

September 08, 2017 - anode.What needs to be done

“Magnesium ion is know to be hard to insert into a host,” said Yoo, the paper's first author.

Yoo suggested that the solution is to expand the titanium disulfide to allow magnesium chloride to be inserted and retaining the magnesium-chloride bond would double the charge the cathode could store.

“First of all, it is very difficult to break magnesium-chloride bonds. More than that, magnesium ions produced in that way move ...