After decades of promising progress, electric battery technology has reached a point where a future without fossil fuels is seen as possible, thanks to the work of innovative research and chemical toll processing to bring these innovations to the masses.
One of the most important technologies in this regard is the lithium-ion battery, a particularly energy-dense type of battery technology that has seen use in practically every type of portable electric device, from smart watches to electric dumper trucks.
Such is the world’s dependence on lithium that it has led to concerns about what happens if the relatively rare metal runs out as demand outstrips supply.
As the dominant technology in its field, it is unlikely to be replaced until a demonstrably better technology emerges that can match or at least come close to its level of energy density but with less reliance on lithium, cobalt, manganese and other rare metals.
One potential breakthrough was found at Osaka Metropolitan University, which combined two of the most promising technologies with a process that could potentially improve capacity at a lower cost and with a reliance on far fewer rare materials.
The battery process in question, as published in Energy Storage Materials, is a sodium-ion solid state that uses a sulfide electrolyte to provide a level of conductivity ten times higher than what is currently accepted for commercial battery use.
A solid-state battery, unlike a conventional lithium-ion battery, does not use a liquid electrolyte and is therefore more stable and far safer to charge, both aspects that make it highly desirable for use in electric vehicles.
According to car manufacturer Toyota, who have heavily banked on solid-state batteries as the future, solid-state batteries could have a range of 1000 miles with a charging time of just ten minutes, both significant improvements on current technology.
As well as this, the primary material used for this test battery was sodium, which is easily harvested from seawater as sodium chloride.