The reporter learned from Hunan University that recently, the top international academic journal "Nature" published online the paper "Rapid Charging and Discharging Aluminum Ion Batteries》. "Nature" magazine believes that this research result has realized a rechargeable aluminum ion liquid battery for the first time, which is expected to bring revolutionary changes to the international battery industry. It is reported that this achievement has obtained multiple patent protections in the United States, and several well-known companies hope to buy out this patent.
Lu Bing'an and Dai Hongjie's research group at Stanford University in the United States used graphite as the cathode material and an ionic liquid equivalent to a salt solution as the electrolyte, solving the material bottleneck in aluminum battery research. Experiments have found that using three-dimensional graphite as the battery cathode material can greatly shorten the battery charging time. Lu Bingan said that in the past, it took an hour to charge a mobile phone using lithium batteries, but aluminum batteries can be charged in just one minute. In the future, it will no longer be imaginary to charge an aluminum battery for 1 hour and use a mobile phone for 3 or 4 days.
At the same time, aluminum batteries last longer. The cycle life of ordinary lithium batteries is generally 300 times, but experiments have proven that after 7,500 cycles of aluminum batteries, there is almost no capacity decay, which is equivalent to charging twice a day. After 20 years, the battery is still as durable as ever.
In addition to the advantages of safety, long life, and fast charging, compared with lithium batteries, the production cost of aluminum batteries will be lower, and there are also environmental advantages such as the non-toxic ionic liquid produced by electrolysis. In the future, aluminum batteries can not only be used in small household appliances such as mobile phones, but can also replace current batteries in areas prone to violent collisions and high temperatures, such as electric vehicles.