In 10 years, solid-state batteries made from rock silicates will be an environmentally friendly, more efficient and safer alternative to the lithium-ion batteries we use today. Researcher at DTU have patented a new superionic material based on potassium silicate – a mineral that can be extracted from ordinary rocks.
It is the battery in your electric car that determines how far you can drive on one charge and how quickly you can re-charge. However, the lithium-ion battery, the most widely used electric car battery today, has its limitations— in terms of capacity, safety and also availability. Because lithium is an expensive, environmentally harmful material and the scarcity of the relatively rare metal can hinder the green transition of car transport.
As more and more people switch to electric cars, we need to develop a new generation of lithium-free batteries, which are at least as efficient, but more eco-friendly and cheaper to produce. This requires new materials for the battery’s main components; anode, cathode, and electrolyte, as well as developing new battery designs.
It is a research field that is currently occupying researchers all over the world, because when we find new ‘recipes’ for batteries, it will enable a significant reduction of the transport sector’s carbon emissions.
At DTU, researcher Mohamad Khoshkalam has invented a material that has the potential to replace lithium in tomorrow’s super battery: solid-state batteries based on potassium and sodium silicates. These are rock silicates, which are some of the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust. It is found in the stones you pick up on the beach or in your garden. A great advantage of the new material is that it is not sensitive to air and humidity. This makes it possible to mould it into a paper-thin layer inside the battery.
Patented superionic material
The potential of the milky-white, paper-thin material based on potassium silicate is huge. It is an inexpensive, eco-friendly material that can be extracted from silicates, which cover over 90 per cent of the Earth’s surface. The material can conduct ions at around 40 degrees and is not sensitive to moisture.
This will make scaling up and future battery production easier, safer and cheaper, as production can take place in an open atmosphere and at temperatures close to room temperature. The material also works without the addition of expensive and environmentally harmful metals such as cobalt, which is currently used in lithium-ion batteries to boost capacity and service life.
