It is also expected that demand for lithium-ion batteries will increase up to tenfold by 2030, according to the US Department for Energy, so manufacturers are constantly building battery plants to keep up. Lithium mining can be controversial as it can take several years to develop and has a considerable impact on the environment.
"Recycling a lithium-ion battery consumes more energy and resources than producing a new battery, explaining why only a small amount of lithium-ion batteries are recycled," says Aqsa Nazir, a postdoctoral research scholar at Florida International University's battery research laboratory.
Now Alsym Energy has developed a nonflammable, nontoxic alternative to lithium-ion batteries to help renewables like wind and solar bridge the gap in a broader range of sectors. The company’s electrodes use relatively stable, abundant materials, and its electrolyte is primarily water with some nontoxic add-ons.
GenAI is changing how batteries are being created. Photo: Shutterstock A novel lithium-ion battery design could power electric vehicles, smartphones and other devices with up to 70 per cent less lithium as current designs – and it’s just one of millions of new battery materials invented and tested by fast-developing generative AI (genAI) models.
Dr Nuria Tapia-Ruiz, who leads a team of battery researchers at the chemistry department at Imperial College London, said any material with reduced amounts of lithium and good energy storage capabilities are "the holy grail" in the lithium-ion battery industry.
The similarity with lithium-ion batteries makes lithium-sulphur batteries relatively easy to produce. "They can be manufactured in the same production plants, saving costs of new technical resources," says Nazir. The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2.