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					</table><p>Researchers from <a href="https://ethz.ch/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETH Zurich</a> have developed an environmentally friendly salt concentration for water-based zinc-ion batteries, which offers long-lasting performance and fast charging.</p>
<p>To store sustainably produced energy from sources like wind or sunlight, the world requires powerful and cost-effective batteries that can be utilized even in the absence of natural sources.</p>
<p>While lithium-ion batteries are commonly used to power smartphones and electric cars, they are costly due to the increasing global demand for lithium and are also prone to flammability issues.</p>
<p>A viable substitute for lithium-ion batteries is water-based zinc batteries which have the potential to offer promising benefits.</p>
<p>Although zinc batteries offer several advantages, durability remains a significant challenge.</p>
<p>Zinc, being abundant and inexpensive, with a well-established recycling infrastructure, can store a large amount of electricity. In addition, the use of water-based electrolytes in zinc batteries eliminates the need for highly flammable organic solvents as electrolyte fluids, making them a safer option.</p>
<p>Despite the many benefits of zinc batteries, engineers must overcome significant challenges during their development.</p>
<p>One such challenge is the formation of hydrogen gas when the battery is charged at high voltage, which causes a decrease in electrolyte fluid and battery performance, as well as dangerous pressure buildup.</p>
<p>Another issue is the development of dendrites, spikey deposits of zinc that can pierce through the battery during charging and can lead to short circuits.</p>
<p>The strategy of adding salts to the aqueous liquid electrolyte has been pursued by engineers to reduce the water content. However, this approach has its drawbacks.</p>
<p>The electrolyte fluid becomes thick and viscous, which slows down the charging and discharging processes significantly. Furthermore, most of the salts used in this method contain fluorine, which can be harmful and toxic to the environment.</p>
<p>To address this issue, Maria Lukatskaya, an Electrochemical Energy Systems Professor at ETH Zurich, collaborated with researchers from various institutions in the US and Switzerland to find the ideal salt concentration for water-based zinc-ion batteries.</p>
<p>Through a combination of experiments and computer simulations, they discovered that the optimal salt concentration is not the highest possible, as previously believed, but rather a relatively low concentration of five to ten water molecules per salt&#8217;s positive ion.</p>
<p>In March 2023, researchers at HZB <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/researchers-perovskite-solar-cells-saves-input-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that solar cells made of metal halide perovskites achieve high efficiencies and can be produced from liquid inks with little energy input.</p>
<p>Researchers at Swansea University in Wales, United Kingdom, recently <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-find-cost-perovskite-solar-cells-at-scale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established</a> a low-cost and scalable carbon ink formulation capable of unlocking the potential for manufacturing perovskite solar cells at scale.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Low Salt Concentration Makes Zinc-ion Batteries Viable Compared with Li-ion

<p>A team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Nottingham</a>, in collaboration with six research institutes of China, has designed a new rechargeable battery using salt as a key ingredient to extend the range of electric vehicles.</p>
<p>The researchers explained that many electric vehicles (EVs) are powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which lose energy over time. These batteries can also overheat during working or charging under certain conditions that can decrease battery life and miles per charge.</p>
<p>To resolve these issues, the researchers claim to have developed an affordable, recyclable, and rechargeable battery by combining a solid-oxide fuel cell and a metal air-battery. These batteries can store and discharge as much power as lithium-ion batteries, with more safety and lower cost.</p>
<p>A solid-oxide fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity as a result of a chemical reaction. But these durable, low-cost, and efficient cells are not rechargeable. On the other hand, rechargeable metal-air batteries generate power using cheap metals like iron and the oxygen present in the air but are not very durable.</p>
<p>The researchers designed a high-temperature iron-air battery that uses cheap and inflammable molten salt as an electrolyte for electric conductivity that could help enhance the energy storage, power capacity, and lifecycle of a battery.</p>
<p>Goerge Chen, who is leading a molten salt electrolysis laboratory in Nottingham, said, “However, in extreme heat, molten salt can be aggressively corrosive, volatile, and evaporate or leak, which is challenging to the safety and stability of battery design. There was an urgent need to fine-tune these electrolyte characteristics for better battery performance and enable its future use in electric transport.”</p>
<p>To overcome this barrier, the researchers used solid oxide nano-powders that can turn molten salt into soft-solid salt, which is more suitable as an electrolyte for metal-air batteries and can operate at 800°C.</p>
<p>The researchers said this technology would provide an easy and efficient way to design high-performance molten salt metal-air batteries with better stability and safety.</p>
<p>“The modified molten salt metal-air battery has potential applications in new markets, including electric transport and renewable energy, which requires storage solutions in homes and at grid-level. The battery can store solar heat and electricity, which is desirable for both domestic and industrial energy needs. These batteries are currently used in Spain and China at large scale to capture and store solar heat, which is then converted to electricity,” Chen added.</p>
<p>In July 2020, researchers at Stanford University <a href="https://mercomindia.com/stanford-lithium-metal-batteries-evs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">claimed</a> that they had developed a new electrolyte design that boosts the performance of lithium metal batteries that could increase the driving range of EVs.</p>
<p>Mercom earlier <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-claim-double-range-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that a team of researchers led by Hun-Gi Jung at the Center for Energy Storage Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology had come up with silicon anode materials that could increase the battery capacity by four times as compared to the traditional graphite anode materials.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Molten Salt Metal-Air Battery Can Extend the Range of Electric Vehicles

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