U.S. Team Developing Rechargeable Green Battery

A research team led by the Oregon State University (OSU) is planning to develop a new rechargeable battery that does not rely on rare minerals and could potentially hold more power, Monica Sayamoa reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: OSU chemistry professor Xiulei “David” Ji, who will lead a battery research team, said it could be a game-changer.

The US Department of Energy awarded OSU $3 million to explore the development of a new rechargeable battery technology that would accelerate the clean energy transition without relying on rare finite minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

OSU chemistry professor Xiulei “David” Ji, who will lead a battery research team, said it could be a game-changer. “It’s a new paradigm,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “We are very excited and very grateful to have this opportunity to work on this project.”

According to the International Energy Agency, an organization that provides data analysis for global energy policies, the world could face lithium shortages by 2025. The price of lithium has soared, tripling in 2021.

Nickel, a mineral used for lithium-ion batteries, has also grown in demand and seen price hikes. Ji, who will lead a team of researchers from Howard University, the University of Maryland, and Vanderbilt University, said depending on these minerals is unsustainable and expensive.

He said meeting clean energy goals soon will require a move away from relatively rare, finite minerals.

His plan is to explore anion batteries that provide the necessary components without using limited minerals like the ones lithium batteries use and that could potentially increase how much energy a battery can hold.

“The new battery chemistry does not have to rely on these elements,” Ji said. “That’s the benefit of the new chemistry. It’s a game changer.”

Ji said the primary market for these batteries would be electric vehicles, but he doesn’t rule out the possibility of anion batteries being used by large-scale utilities, like Portland General Electric’s solar, wind and battery facility. He also said they could be commercialized soon and be used in homes.

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