Scientists are already working on a battery that could last 100 years

Image: sdecoret – Depositphotos.

Engineers say a lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt variant of the battery could last 100 years.

A team of researchers from Dalhousie University discovered evidence suggesting that a variant of a lithium nickel manganese cobalt battery could have a lifespan of 100 years. The group describes the battery and why they think it could last so long in a scientific paper.

As the planet continues to warm due to humanity’s failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists around the world continue to search for ways to avert the catastrophe we are dangerously close to.

One of the avenues consists of switching cars that emit CO2 of fossil origin to another less polluting source (hydrogen – electricity), thanks to batteries.

So far, the use of batteries has proven to be an effective alternative, although there are issues that need to be addressed, such as the large-scale deployment of charging stations.

Another challenge to improve is the evolution of battery technology. Currently, the batteries used in electric cars are very expensive and do not hold the necessary charge. They don’t last long enough either. In this new effort, the Halifax team worked on that last problem, and now they claim to have developed a battery that could last a century.

Contents

New battery.

The new battery is a variant of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries that have been under consideration for some time.

What is new is that it has been discovered that if these batteries are modified to be able to use them at a lower voltage, they will last much longer than other similar batteries, and longer than lithium iron phosphate .

In tests, it has been shown that if these batteries run at 3.8 volts instead of the standard 4.2 (and are kept at 25 ºC), they could last around a hundred years.

The problem is that these batteries cost more and may not be able to meet the power needs of cars. On the other hand, they suggest that these batteries could work well as long-term energy storage systems. Unfortunately, these batteries aren’t very environmentally friendly either (although Tesla recently noted that a design tweak could eliminate the cobalt). They acknowledge that further work is needed to better understand the feasibility of using these batteries in commercial applications.

More information: iopscience.iop.org (text in English).

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