New Aqueous Lithium-Ion Battery Improves Safety Without Sacrificing Performance

As the lithium-ion batteries that power most phones, laptops, and electric vehicles become increasingly fast-charging and high-performing, they also grow increasingly expensive and flammable.

In research published recently in Energy Storage Materials, a team of engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how they could — by using aqueous electrolytes instead of the typical organic electrolytes — assemble a substantially safer, cost-efficient battery that still performs well.

Aqueous electrolytes have been eyed for that role because of their non-flammable nature and because, unlike non-aqueous electrolytes, they aren’t sensitive to moisture in the manufacturing process, making them easier to work with and less expensive. Researchers managed to achieve high performance that is rare in aqueous batteries.

Read more at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Image Credit: Hilary Halliwell/Pexels

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