Battery challenges: cost and performance
As the world becomes ever more dependent on batteries to power modern life, challenges from fire risk in portable devices to grid-level storage for solar and wind farms require increasingly diverse approaches. Researchers from both MIT and industry offered a variety of different solutions at the Materials Day Symposium on Oct. 18. Among significant progress noted in developing and deploying new battery technologies: General Electric has developed a model to assess the economics of energy storage for wind and solar energy projects, guiding how to optimize selection of storage type, size, and market; MIT Professor Yet-Ming Chiang is developing an air-breathing, water-based sulfur flow battery that may compete on cost with pumped water and compressed air storage technologies; 3M has developed Novec fluid that provides fire protection for battery cells; and Bosch is working to replace flammable electrolytes in lithium ion batteries with solid lithium-ion electrolytes. In remarks opening the “Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage” symposium,...