Iron to revolutionize electric car batteries: cheap, durable and sustainable

The development of cathode materials iron base represents a fundamental advance in lithium-ion battery technology. This is an alternative more ecological and economical to traditional cathodes cobalt and nickel. Iron, which is abundant and cheap, can significantly reduce production costs and environmental impact.

The work of the Oregon State University team shows that with the iron Higher energy densities can be achieved, making it a promising solution for more sustainable and environmentally friendly batteries. This could revolutionize the electric vehicle industry and various energy storage applications.

Benefits of iron-based cathode materials

The advantages of iron-based cathode materials are multiple:

• Abundance and low cost: Iron is an abundant and economical material. It is the fourth most abundant element on Earth, significantly reducing the cost of production compared to materials such as cobalt and nickel.
• Less environmental impact: The extraction and processing of iron has a lower environmental impact compared to cobalt and nickel, making batteries more environmentally friendly.
• Greater security– Iron-based cathode materials are less prone to overheating problems and other safety issues associated with cobalt and nickel.
• Reducing resource scarcity– By using iron, critical resource shortage issues affecting traditional cathode materials are mitigated.
• Stability and performance– Iron-based cathodes can achieve higher energy densities, improving the efficiency and performance of lithium-ion batteries.

The innovation presented in this research focuses on solve the fundamental problem of current batteries which is related to the resource scarcity and security that present materials such as cobalt and nickel.

Iron-based cathodes: the future of lithium-ion batteries

Xiulei “David” Jico-director of the research, belonging to Oregon State University and responsible for the publication in Science Advances hope that your results trigger a revolution in batteries.

Currently, the cathode represents 50% of the manufacturing cost of a battery cell lithium ion. In addition, iron-based cathodes would offer greater safety and sustainability. According to Ji, in a few decades, expected shortages of nickel and cobalt will limit battery production as it is currently done.

The energy density of those elements is already reaching its limit. A further increase could release oxygen during charging, causing battery fires. Furthermore, the cobalt is toxicmeaning it can contaminate ecosystems and water sources if it leaks from landfills.

“We have transformed the reactivity of metallic iron, the most economical metal,” says Ji. “Our electrode can offer higher energy density than state-of-the-art cathode materials in electric vehicles. And because we use iron, which can cost less than a dollar per kilogram, a fraction of the cost of nickel and cobalt, which are essential in today’s high-energy lithium-ion batteries, the price of our batteries could be much smaller.”

Playing with iron to achieve a revolution in batteries

The collaboration between various universities and laboratories has achieved improve iron reactivity at the cathode by designing a chemical environment that includes a mixture of fluorine and phosphate anions, negatively charged ions.

This mixture, combined as a solid solution of a fine combination of iron powder, lithium fluoride and lithium phosphate in iron salts, enables reversible conversion, that is, the ability to recharge the battery.

Ji explains that, along with iron powder, more expensive salt has not been used but rather the same one used in the battery industry. To implement this new cathode in real applications nor is it necessary to modify anything: no new anodes, no new production lines, no new battery design. Only the cathode is replaced.

For now, not all of the electricity that goes into the battery during charging is available for use when discharging it so storage efficiency still needs to be improved. Ji hopes that when those improvements are made, the result will be a battery that works much better than those currently used, it costs less and is more ecological.

“Whether invest in this technology“It shouldn’t be long before it becomes commercially available,” Ji concludes, so “we need industry visionaries to allocate resources to this emerging field.” Following this work, iron-based cathodes are poised to play a critical role in the future of electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, driving a more sustainable and profitable battery industry.