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On paper, batteries are simple. They consist of two electrodes (at which atoms are split into electrons and charged ions), an electrolyte (through which the charged ions flow while the electrons go off to do something useful) and a handful of other bits and bobs you’ve likely never heard of and almost certainly never seen.
Today’s most popular batteries are lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells. They are widely used in electricity grids and can be found in most of the world’s electric vehicles. They have become as good as they are through decades of focus on the cathode, the positive electrode that houses the energy-dense lithium. This diligent tweaking has raised energy density and brought down prices. But the technology has reached a plateau: the guts of the Li-ion battery have remained much the same since the 1990s.
Some risk aversion among battery-makers is understandable. All it takes is one tiny tweak for the whole thing to either fall apart or go up in flames. In 2006 laptop batteries made by Sony started exploding, leading to one of the biggest electronics recalls in history; seven years later battery fires on board Boeing 787 Dreamliners caused the widespread groundings of planes. Both problems arose from short circuits within the cell that caused the battery to overheat and explode. In the case of Sony, tiny metal shards seeped into the electrolyte. For Boeing, the current collectors sitting atop the electrodes turned out to be problematic. With such high stakes, it is no surprise that many are wary of fiddling with a thing that works.
That could be about to change. As
I write in the Science section,
the biggest new gains are being reaped in the cell’s most overlooked and unglamorous parts: the anode (the less-famous electrode), the electrolyte, the separator and current collectors, to name a few. These are critical parts of a circuit, and now hold the greatest potential to radically improve batteries’ energy density and safety.
Improvements have already been seen in the lab. But whether they can make their way to the assembly line—and whether anyone will want to buy them—is a different question. Big battery makers have been burned before: faulty design or tweaks to the manufacturing process have led to epic failures. Francis Wang, the CEO of NanoGraf, a battery-parts innovator, likened making batteries to baking bread. The manufacturers “bake bread, they knead the dough”, he says. If “you’re asking them to use a different machine” to do the kneading, the risk is that this will “mess up the ten other things” that make the bread good.
As a result, founders like Mr Wang are offering parts that can “just be dropped in”. This approach will ease manufacturers’ skittishness. It could help innovations scale up quicker, too.
Elsewhere in The Economist:
Thank you for reading. If you want to learn more about the future of batteries, check out our coverage on
electric cars
and
the promise of superbatteries.
And if there are any battery-related topics you’re burning to see us cover, reach us at
sciencenewsletter@economist.com.
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