A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge have created a laboratory demonstration of lithium-oxygen batteries which are super-efficient compared to regular lithium-ion batteries.
According to a report coming from Phys.org, researchers have developed a working laboratory demonstrator of a lithium-oxygen battery which offers high energy density, is more than 90 percent efficient and can be recharged more than 2000 times.
"What we've achieved is a significant advance for this technology and suggests whole new areas for research - we haven't solved all the problems inherent to this chemistry, but our results do show routes forward towards a practical device," said Professor Clare Grey of Cambridge's Department of Chemistry.
Described as the "ultimate" batteries, the newly developed lithium-air batteries propose a high theoretical energy density of up to ten times the energy offered by regular lithium-ion batteries. Such a high energy density would enable an electric car to drive from London to Edinburgh on a single charge.
The researchers claim that the new battery pack could be five times less costly and five times lighter than currently used lithium-ion batteries.
However, there are several practical challenges that need to be addressed before lithium-air batteries become a viable gasoline alternative. The problems surrounding the lithium-oxygen batteries include its lifespan and capacity, chemical reaction, troublesome efficiency, performance and safety issues. It also needs pure oxygen rather than air that contains other gases including carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as well as moisture, all of which are potentially harmful to the metal electrode, reported BGR.
"While there are still plenty of fundamental studies that remain to be done, to iron out some of the mechanistic details, the current results are extremely exciting - we are still very much at the development stage, but we've shown that there are solutions to some of the tough problems associated with this technology," said Grey.
The new battery technology, unfortunately, will not be immediately available in any industry and could even take up to 10 years time to power devices.
