Charging the battery should go faster soon. (Photo: Shutterstock)
28.02.2020, 04:28 a.m.
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The glass battery of the Nobel Prize winner and lithium-ion battery co-inventor John Goodenough could soon become a reality. A Canadian electricity supplier promises to be ready for the market by 2022.
Around three years ago, John Goodenough, co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery and awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019, presented a new battery technology. The fast-charging battery, which the then 94-year-old developed at the University of Texas together with the scientist Maria Helena Braga from the University of Porto, should be able to be charged in minutes instead of hours. The secret: glass or ceramic instead of lithium polymers. Now the new battery technology could soon become a reality.
Glass battery: Hydro-Québec expects to be ready for the market soon
The Canadian electricity supplier Hydro-Québec secured the license to the technology at the end of January. The glass batteries are to be further developed in the next two years, in order to be ready for the market by 2022, as the specialist magazine IEEE Spectrum reports. Then one or two industrial partners should manufacture the batteries. Hydro-Québec claims to have been researching lithium batteries for 40 years. 120 people are currently working on technologies such as those from Goodenough in the Group’s laboratories. Hydro-Québec has been closely associated with the now 97-year-old developer for around 25 years.
The solid-state batteries developed by Goodenough and Braga use glass or ceramic mixed with alkali metals as electrolytes. In conventional batteries, the electrolytes, the material between the cathode and anode, often consist of liquids. This makes them more susceptible to fire. The solid-state batteries should not be flammable and should work in both hot and cold weather. In addition, they are said to have an energy density that is said to be more than three times as high as current lithium-ion batteries and to also last longer.
Third generation of solid-state batteries
Incidentally, Hydro-Québec has also recently started working with Daimler / Mercedes-Benz on lithium solid-state batteries. The electrodes and electrolytes of these consist of solid materials. The advantages here are that the batteries can be charged faster and should not be flammable. Unlike Goodenough’s development, Hydro-Québec speaks of the second generation of solid-state batteries. A first generation, which the group developed in the 1990s, is used in electric buses and as energy storage.
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