
Clarifying study Defining Problems with Lithium-Air may still lead to Better Batteries
An MIT research team has studied in detail a promising next generation lithium battery know as a lithium-air or lithium- oxygen battery. This type of battery, which has the potential to offer more power by weight than the current lithium ion batteries, has had conflicting and contradictory results in other studies, slowing down advancements to its development.
The MIT study, published in Energy and Environmental Science, focuses closely on lithium iodide, or LiI, a substance thought to aid or stabilize the reactions in the lithium-air batteries, in order to clarify and pinpoint the mechanism responsible for the batteries’ inconsistent results.
The lithium-oxygen battery is unique because one of the electrodes is made of air, instead of a heavyweight metal, while the other is composed of lithium, one of the lightest metals. This makes for an extremely lightweight battery, which if successful would be a huge advantage to the automotive field, making it possible to power a wider range of electric vehicles[…]
