Cornell University explores aluminium anode batteries to tender low-cost renewable energy storage

The Cornell University researchers led by Professor Lynden Archer explored the use of a more affordable product, which is aiming to deliver a better alternative to market-dominating lithium batteries. The research announcement said that the latest technique to integrate aluminium derived in rechargeable batteries is capable of 10,000 error-free cycles.

The developers said: “A new type of battery incorporating low-cost aluminium could offer cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly storage of renewable energy.”

The aluminium ore is plentiful in the Earth’s crust and the metal aluminium is trivalent and light, which signifies it, has a high capacity to store more energy than many other metals. It can be precarious to integrate into a battery’s electrodes, however, as it chemically reacts with glass fibre separators, which divide the anode and cathode to prevent short circuits.

The researchers' solution was to design a substrate of interwoven carbon fibres that develops an even stronger chemical bond with aluminium. When the battery is charged, the aluminium is deposited into the carbon structure via covalent bonding – the sharing of electron pairs between aluminium and carbon atoms.

The latest technique comprises a non-planar architecture to create a deeper, more consistent layering of aluminium that can be exquisitely controlled.

“The aluminium anode batteries can be reversibly charged and discharged one or more orders of magnitude more times than other aluminium rechargeable batteries under practical conditions,” the developers added.