As the world’s power needs grow, the search is on for better battery technology — not just to keep smartphones charged for longer, but to run electric cars and to store energy produced by solar and wind power.
For the last 25 years, the lithium-ion battery, has held sway. Packing a large amount of energy into a relatively small space and weight, these are in greater demand than ever for mobile phones and electric cars. In fact, 2017 has been, in the words of HSBC’s Paul Bloxham, a nirvana for lithium.
The price of the commodity has been driven 240 per cent higher. Batteries accounted for 35 per cent of lithium use in 2015, up from 25 per cent in 2007, with electric vehicles, phones and personal computers accounting for 60 per cent of that market.
Lithium-ion’s limitations are apparent, however, to anyone who has seen their mobile phone battery draining suddenly. There is a growing interest in finding alternative technologies.
“There’s a sense that existing lithium-ion batteries and related charging technologies are reaching their limitations,” said CCS Insight, the research company.
Samsung in November revealed that it had developed a technology based on a “graphene ball” that could potentially boost its battery capacity by 45 per cent and increase charging speed five-fold.
For the rest of this article: https://www.ft.com/content/46adb98c-d8ef-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f