Calcium-ion battery breakthrough could offer alternative to lithium-ion cells

This is the claim of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) whose findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

“The vast majority of rechargeable battery products are based on lithium-ion technology, which is the gold standard in terms of performance,” said corresponding author Dr Nikhil Koratkar, the John A. Clark and Edward T. Crossan Professor of Engineering at RPI. “However, the Achilles’ heel for lithium-ion technology is cost. Lithium is a limited resource on the planet, and its price has increased drastically in recent years. We are working on an inexpensive, abundant, safe, and sustainable battery chemistry that uses calcium ions in an aqueous, water-based electrolyte.”

According to RPI, the larger size and higher charge density of calcium ions relative to lithium impairs diffusion kinetics and cyclic stability. Now, Dr. Koratkar and his team offer oxide structures containing heptagonal and hexagonal channels as a prospective solution. In their work, an aqueous calcium-ion battery is demonstrated using orthorhombic and trigonal polymorphs of molybdenum vanadium oxide (MoVO) as a host for calcium ions.