Scientists use iron to develop cheaper, safer, sustainable lithium-ion batteries

Researchers have reportedly developed an iron-based cathode material which can pave the way for making cheaper, safer, and more sustainable batteries. The new material will end the need to use expensive and scarce metals such as cobalt and nickel, leading to the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) at cheaper rates.

Oregon State University chemistry researcher Xiulei“David”Ji explained how they transformed the reactivity of iron metal to achieve exciting results.

“Our electrode can offer a higher energy density than the state-of-the-art cathode materials in electric vehicles. And since we use iron, whose cost can be less than a dollar per kilogramme – a small fraction of nickel and cobalt, which are indispensable in current high-energy lithium-ion batteries – the cost of our batteries is potentially much lower,”he was quoted as saying by a science website 'Interesting Engineering'.

The researcher added thatthe use ofscarce metals contributes up to 50 per cent to the production cost of lithium-ion battery cells. He also warned that the overexploitation of these metals may even cause a shortage and the ensuing collapse of nickel and cobalt-based battery manufacturing.

On the other hand, iron is the most common element on Earth as measured by mass, the researcher adds.

“We will not run out of iron till the sun turns into a red giant,”he says.

Scientists mixed special chemicals with iron powder, lithium fluoride, and lithium phosphate to create iron salts that can change back and forth. This way, they could use iron in the battery withoutneeding to changeother parts of how batteriesare made.

“We’vedemonstrated that the materials designed with anions can break the ceiling of energy density for batteries that are more sustainable and cost less,”Ji explained.

“We’renot using some more expensive salt in conjunction with iron – just those the battery industry has been using and then iron powder,"he added.

“To put this new cathode in applications, one needs to change nothing else – no new anodes, no new production lines, no new design of the battery. We are just replacing one thing, the cathode,”added Ji.

(With inputs from agencies)