An innovative organic material could make lithium-ion batteries lighter, safer and easy to recycle

The research article is ‘Open Access’, find it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh9020

tl;dr =

Batteries generate electricity by moving ions between two layers, called a cathode and an anode. A third layer in between, called the electrolyte, is designed to allow ions to pass easily between the anode and the cathode.

The lithium-ion batteries in modern electric vehicles and electronic gadgets typically use a liquid or gel electrolyte that is highly flammable. An important aim of battery research is to replace such electrolytes with solid materials, which would be safer and could reduce the battery’s weight.

Jiwoong Bae at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and his collaborators designed a solid electrolyte made of interlinked organic molecules. This electrolyte melts at 100 °C, a relatively low temperature for an industrial process. That could make it easy to separate and recycle the valuable cathode material at the end of a battery’s life — although the recycled materials would offer slightly less energy per kilogram of battery. The design also dispenses with the graphite commonly used in anodes, potentially reducing the battery’s weight further.