The research was carried out by scientists at Peking University, Yunnan University, and the Wuhan University of Technology in China; the University of Louisville in Kentucky; the University of Waterloo in Canada; Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; and MIT.
The new battery architecture uses aluminium and sulphur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in between. As the price of lithium skyrockets due to increasing demand, the world needs inexpensive alternatives. Aluminium and sulphur are plentiful and cheap. Sadoway says aluminium-sulphur battery cells will cost about $9 per kWh, which is far less than the lithium-ion battery cells currently available. The new cells are not suitable for use in electric vehicles, but could lower the cost of small-scale storage batteries for homes and small business customers, which could make more lithium-based cells available for the transportation sector. The research has been published recently in the journal Nature.
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Aluminum-Sulfur Battery Promises Low Cost Energy Storage#
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batteries Researchers at MIT and other universities have created an aluminum-sulfur battery that is cheaper and more effective than lithium-ion.