Sulfur and aluminum batteries are a great low-cost solution for everyday devices

Batteries and accumulators have become an integral part of our daily lives, but they come at a cost, especially to people and the environment. They are widely used in smartphones and laptops, and are at the heart of electric vehicles and many other devices.

In addition, they help power the world’s electricity grid because renewable sources such as solar and wind cannot yet provide electricity 24 hours a day.

Nowadays, lithium ion batteries or even lithium ferrophosphate (LiFePo4) are gaining more and more popularity due to their high capacity and, in the latter case, almost zero environmental pollution.

Well, today we bring you another novelty from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other centers who have managed to develop a new type of battery, completely manufactured with materials that are almost abundant and very cheap on our planet: aluminum and sulfur.

“I wanted to invent something better, much better than lithium-ion batteries, for small stationary batteries and ultimately for the automotive industry.”explains Sadoway, John F. Elliott Distinguished Professor of Materials Chemistry.

This is how this new idea of ​​a battery is born, which is far superior to the lithium ion battery. Aluminum and sulfur are connected by a series of molten salts. which have relatively low melting points, in order to avoid the kind of spontaneous combustion that we have already seen in some smartphones.

This trio is low cost, and experiments conducted to test its effectiveness have shown that battery cells can withstand hundreds of cycles at exceptionally high charge rates, with a projected cost per cell about six times less than that of lithium-ion cells.

Also, the download speed was surprisingly fast. This new battery formula will be very useful for home use or small businesses, they say. At the same time, it is clear to us that its use is more for small scale, because for other situations requiring more power, lithium ion or LFPs are more efficient.