The first battery — Alessandro Volta’s Voltaic Pile, 1799 | Image: Gillard — Leçons de Physique ; Éditions Vuibert et Nony

Glass Batteries: an Energy Storage Breakthrough

Researchers at the University of Texas have developed a breakthrough battery chemistry that promises significant benefits over lithium-ion. The chemistry uses solid glass as the electrolyte and either sodium or lithium for anodes. The benefits are numerous:

1. Triple the energy density of lithium-ion batteries — longer time before recharging and/or smaller batteries
2. Faster recharge rate (minutes rather than hours)
3. Longer cycle life (the number of discharges and recharges in a battery’s lifespan)
4. Lower cost — sodium can be extracted from seawater
5. Safety — lithium-ion battery fires and explosions are caused when dendrites form in the liquid electrolyte, creating a short circuit. Solid glass electrolyte eliminates this possibility
6. They can operate in sub-zero temperatures
7. Less environmental impact (PDF)

Once commercialised, glass batteries could enable improvements to a huge assortment of technologies, from mobile phones to electric vehicles. They could also accelerate the $7.8tr renewable energy market by lowering the cost of battery storage for smart grids.

It is an extremely promising invention. Interestingly, the research was led by the co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, at the ripe young age of 94.

Originally published in LinkedIn