Chalmers University researcher says aluminium air batteries likely to be at per with LIBs within 15 years

According to researcher Niklas Lindahl from the Department of Physics at Chalmers University of Technology, aluminium air batteries (AIBs), which is in an R&D phase now, will be at per with lithium-ion batteries in 10 to 15 years’ time and substitute them in many applications. 

Once industrial scale manufacturing starts, AIBs would provide a better, cheaper and less environmentally harmfull charge carrier than lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), Lindahl added.

Researchers from Swedish Chalmers University of Technology and the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia are working to resolve the issues that are stopping commercial use of AIBs.  The team has recently made a breakthrough by making batteries with twice the energy density of available AIBs.

While LIBs use scarce graphite, lithium and cobalt resources, AIBs rely on abundant materials. LIBs yield high levels of emissions due to high temperatures during synthesis and AIB work on lower temperature.

"There is no such production yet [of AIBs] and it is difficult to say which materials will eventually be used in the battery cells. But our assumption is based on lower prices for input materials. That goes for aluminium versus lithium," Lindahl said.

LIBs’ scarce cathode materials drive up the cost. AIBs mostly used cheaper graphite as the cathode with the anode built of aluminium, which does not provide enough energy to create performant battery cells. The researchers have replaced graphite with an organic, nanostructured cathode made of the carbon-based molecule anthraquinone, which boosted energy density.

AIBs however, offer challenges towards commercial use because of the imperfect electrolyte and charging mechanisms of the battery technology. The Gothenburg-Ljubljana team also aims to get rid of chlorine in the electrolyte because of its corrosive nature. Another issue the researchers are working on is the lower voltage of AIBs compared to LIBs.

AIBs will be suitable for applications where cost/kWh and sustainability is more important than energy density, like stationary storage of solar and wind power. 

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