With the increased significance of lithium-ion batteries, the pressure on the availabiltity of relevant ressources rises. Especially, lithium and cobalt are fundamental components of present lithium-ion batteries. A recent analysis of a research team led by Dr. Daniel Buchholz and Prof. Dr. Stefano Passerini shows that the availability of both elements could become seriously critical. Cobalt-free battery technologies, including post-lithium technologies based on non-critical elements such as so-dium, but also magnesium, zinc, calcium and aluminium, represent possibilities to decrease the dependency and avoid the crit-icality of lithium and Co.
The researchers present these results in the journal Nature Reviews Materials. In addition, the publication will be part of the Nature Reviews Materials online collection Chemistry at the nexus of water and energy, which contains selected articles from the field of natural science.
Further information can be found in the current press release.