Australia first to test new lithium-sulphur batteries

This is a much better article with more technical details yet accessibly written: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newscientist.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2228681-a-new-battery-could-keep-your-phone-charged-for-five-days&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newscientist.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2228681-a-new-battery-c...</a><p>Publication link: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;6&#x2F;1&#x2F;eaay2757" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;6&#x2F;1&#x2F;eaay2757</a>

<i>However, lithium-sulphur batteries may face similar ethical problems to lithium-ion batteries. The metal oxides in lithium-ion batteries are typically nickel, cobalt or manganese, which are expensive and diminishing in natural stores. They also have associated ethical problems: a significant proportion of cobalt is sourced by child miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example.<p>“In order to have much cheaper energy and more ethical batteries, we need a radically new energy storage system,” says Shaibani. The researchers will further test battery prototypes with a view to manufacturing them commercially in Australia in coming years.</i><p>It appears that Shaibani is saying that their new battery chemistry <i>is an example of</i> a radically improved battery that removes ethical problems while it improves energy density. The way the New Scientist article is written, that preceding paragraph makes it sound like Shaibani&#x27;s new chemistry still needs improvements to remove cobalt.<p>There is already no nickel, manganese, or cobalt in this new lithium-sulfur cathode (nor in most lithium-sulfur cathodes). See Table S1 in the supplementary table for elemental analysis:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;advances&#x2F;suppl&#x2F;2019&#x2F;12&#x2F;20&#x2F;6.1.eaay2757.DC1&#x2F;aay2757_SM.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;advances&#x2F;suppl&#x2F;2019&#x2F;...</a>

I&#x27;ve read dozens of papers on Li-S over the years because of how much incredible potential the technology seems to have. The &quot;dirty little secret&quot; seems to be not the charge cycles (which are less than, but similar to, other batteries), but the large amount of electrolyte required, which reduces the effective energy density of the battery. There are all sorts of papers reporting high-capacity and durable cathodes but fewer that address the electrolyte problem, so I&#x27;m curious to see what their plan for that is.<p>A few papers about the electrolyte problem are e.g.:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pubs.acs.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1021&#x2F;acscentsci.7b00123" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pubs.acs.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1021&#x2F;acscentsci.7b00123</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;adma.201705951" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;abs&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;adma.2017059...</a>

Sounds too good to be true! Did I read right? A fourfold increase in capacity with no downside? Going to production this year? How did I miss this until now?

Sion Power has been working on this technology &quot;since 1989&quot;.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sionpower.com&#x2F;about&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sionpower.com&#x2F;about&#x2F;</a><p>It still only lasts a couple of hundred charge cycles before wearing out:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;6&#x2F;1&#x2F;eaay2757" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;advances.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;6&#x2F;1&#x2F;eaay2757</a><p>&quot;The cells are stable for more than 200 cycles...&quot;

Am I correct in assuming that a four-fold capacity in electric vehicles is coming? That will likely decimate oil dependency.

Lithium-Sulphur has high energy per kilogram which makes it good for transportation. Also high energy per dollar to manufacture which makes it good for grid storage (where weight and size don&#x27;t matter too much, but cost does).<p>At the nominal rate of 750 amp hours per kilogram for lithium-Sulphur is well above normal lithium-ion batteries. But compared to gasoline, it raises the bar from 1% vs gas, to 2%. Do I have that right?

Four decisions to make on cookies before being able to read the article? Are you <i>trying</i> to break the internet?

funny how I saw many posts about Amazon fires and while Australia is burning to the ground(which is showing to be much worse than Amazon fires), I can only see a post about some battery; this makes me question this website..