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MIT News: Cobalt-free batteries could power cars of the future
https://news.mit.edu/2024/cobalt-free-batteries-could-power-future-cars-0118Cobalt-free batteries could power cars of the future
MIT chemists developed a battery cathode based on organic materials, which could reduce the EV industry’s reliance on scarce metals.
Anne Trafton | MIT News
Publication Date:January 18, 2024
Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs.
MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries).
In a new study, the researchers showed that this material, which could be produced at much lower cost than cobalt-containing batteries, can conduct electricity at similar rates as cobalt batteries. The new battery also has comparable storage capacity and can be charged up faster than cobalt batteries, the researchers report.
“I think this material could have a big impact because it works really well,” says Mircea Dincă, the W.M. Keck Professor of Energy at MIT. “It is already competitive with incumbent technologies, and it can save a lot of the cost and pain and environmental issues related to mining the metals that currently go into batteries.”
…
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c01478MIT chemists developed a battery cathode based on organic materials, which could reduce the EV industry’s reliance on scarce metals.
Anne Trafton | MIT News
Publication Date:January 18, 2024
Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs.
MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries).
In a new study, the researchers showed that this material, which could be produced at much lower cost than cobalt-containing batteries, can conduct electricity at similar rates as cobalt batteries. The new battery also has comparable storage capacity and can be charged up faster than cobalt batteries, the researchers report.
“I think this material could have a big impact because it works really well,” says Mircea Dincă, the W.M. Keck Professor of Energy at MIT. “It is already competitive with incumbent technologies, and it can save a lot of the cost and pain and environmental issues related to mining the metals that currently go into batteries.”
…