Lithium batteries are commonly used to store the energy generated from clean, renewable sources — and, notably, in electric vehicles, smartphones, and some power plants.
However, these batteries come with several drawbacks. New research summarized in ScienceDaily has found that there may be a way to make these batteries cheaper and more sustainable, using something called an ultralow-concentration electrolyte.
"Commercial electrolytes are still mostly based on a system formulated over 30 years ago," the summary said. "Over the last 10 years, high-concentration electrolytes … have been developed, increasing battery performance by favoring the formation of robust inorganic-dominated interphase layers."
However, these high-concentration electrolytes require large amounts of lithium, making them both expensive and environmentally harmful. Lithium mining can take millions of gallons of water and significantly degrades the areas surrounding the mines.
In order to develop high-performing batteries while using smaller amounts of lithium, scientists at Ningbo University in China and the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus have now turned to ultralow-concentration electrolytes.
The ultralow-concentration electrolyte relies on LiDFOB (lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate), a lithium salt additive that the scientists described as "common … and significantly cheaper" than more commonly used lithium salts.
The benefits of this approach include a much lower lithium demand, and the fact that recycling the batteries would be significantly easier.
The recycling aspect is especially important for the future of lithium batteries. If they could be easily recycled, that would dramatically reduce the need for future lithium mining. Current methods of recycling lithium batteries can have high environmental impacts themselves. There have been breakthroughs, however, including a process that uses fruit peels to extract the lithium from spent batteries without requiring extreme heat.
A future where lithium batteries are easily recyclable could also lead to significantly cheaper electric vehicles, as the batteries are typically the most expensive component of those cars. Taking more gas-powered cars off the road would also lead to better air quality, as EVs don't release any harmful tailpipe pollution.
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