aluminium show |Japanese Scientists Developed a New Type of Aluminium Battery

Chiba University in Japan has developed a battery made from the abundant metal aluminium. Compared to lithium batteries, aluminium batteries face lower resource supply risks, and under the same weight conditions, aluminium batteries can store several times the amount of energy as lithium batteries. While there are still issues to be resolved regarding extending the battery's lifespan, these batteries, produced using abundant resources, have the potential to become a crucial technology for establishing a decarbonized society once they can be commercially deployed.

Lithium batteries, widely used in electric vehicles and smartphones, face challenges in ensuring a stable supply of raw materials. Metals composed of "multivalent ions" are expected to be new battery materials, both in terms of resource reserves and performance. Metals such as aluminium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc could be candidates. These metals not only have abundant reserves but can also carry multiple charges per atom, offering higher capacity than lithium atoms, which can carry only a single charge. Aluminium is versatile and has a price of only 400 Japanese yen per kilogram (about $2.8 USD), which is one-sixth of the price of nickel, a raw material for the positive electrode of lithium batteries.

While these batteries still have some unresolved safety issues, integrating the battery with aluminium-bodied electric vehicles in the future might eliminate the need for standalone battery packs. According to the aluminium show, some foreign companies are also exploring the use of aluminium in the battery field. The Australian Graphene Manufacturing Group is developing aluminium-ion batteries that use graphite as the positive electrode. Although these batteries store less energy per unit weight compared to sulfur-based batteries, their fast-charging capabilities are said to be several times that of lithium batteries.