With calcium 2,500 times more abundant than lithium, battery offers viable option with theoretically comparable energy density, Fudan University scientists say in paper for Nature.
    • relayEnglish
      12·
      9 months ago

      So these batteries have Calcium metal anodes and Graphite cathodes. The optimal electrolyte that they tested this with is Calcium Chloride. All of these chemicals are commonly found everywhere and not likely to create conflict minerals, which is awesome! These batteries are rechargable as well! It might be a decade or so to go from science to engineering a means to mass produce these but a great win for humanity! The only downside is that they don’t perform well in temperatures less than 0° C. Which means that some outdoor use batteries will likely still require lithium in areas with seasonal temperature drops.

      • Shrike502
        10·
        9 months ago

        The only downside is that they don’t perform well in temperatures less than 0° C

        Welp, no batteries for Russia then. Guess we’re stuck with fossils

        • relayEnglish
          11·
          9 months ago

          Lots of lithium is being discovered in Mexico, China, and Argintina. With climate change the thawing out polar reigions, perhaps more lithium will be discovered in Canada and Siberia. Also people in temperate climates can have devices not using lithium which means that the lithium can be used for people living in colder climates.

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind
          9·
          9 months ago

          Yeah but all indoors uses are still on (for some reason i don’t really belive in the old Polish joke that Russians start fo feel a little chilly and close the window in bathroom at -30 C)

      • AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml
        6·
        9 months ago

        Can’t you put a solar panel on top and heat the batteries to keep them above 0°? I guess the problem is that you want the opposite of thermal insulation for batteries when they are working, but insulate them when it’s too cold.

          • AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml
            31·
            9 months ago

            Snow could be melted by heating the solar panel. Unless it’s snowing constantly this could still be net positive over multiple days. This would mostly be useful for grid storage / house storage. But I could imagine an EV doing this too - a few solar panels to heat up the batteries each morning to improve efficiency. Or if it’s plugged in. It should be relatively easy and cheap to negate the problems of low temperature with 1 kW of PV for 250€, a micro controller and a temperature sensor and some resistance wire.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
      91·
      9 months ago

      Not sure actually, I recall reading that sodium didn’t quite have as high energy density as lithium, and sounds like calcium might be comparable.

    • redtea
      8·
      9 months ago

      What do you expect from a paper tiger? Where’s it going to find all that calcium without teeth or a backbone?

      • redtea
        1·
        9 months ago

        There could be applications even in cold places. E.g. people already plug their cars in when parking outdoors in Canada in winter. Continue to do that and put a heater underneath the battery, and it’ll work. If you break down, you’re done for. But if you break down, you aren’t going anywhere, anyway.