Aluminium-ion battery breakthrough announced by UNSW researcher

The quest for viable battery storage alternatives to lithium-ion continues this week, with news that researchers have demonstrated rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries as a possibility for future renewable energy storage.

In a study completed at Northwestern University in Illinois and published in Nature Energy, Dr Dong Jun Kim – now of the University of New South Wales School of Chemistry – led a team of researchers to demonstrate a strategy for designing active materials for rechargeable aluminium batteries.

As we have reported, the promise of aluminium-ion batteries has included faster recharging times, no thermal runaway issues, longer life and lower costs.

As Dr Kim, himself, puts it: “Developing batteries using aluminium has received a lot of expectation for delivering high energy to price ratios.”

That’s partly because aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust behind oxygen and silicon. And, according to the UNSW, it also has one of the highest theoretical volumetric capacities, thanks to its multiple redox states.