Battery pioneer unveils surprising new breakthrough

[Judi Lynn]

Steve LeVine 38 mins ago

The world's most accomplished battery inventor says he has a new cell aimed at electric cars that delivers double the energy density of existing lithium-ion, and, in a first, actually achieves an increase in capacity when it's charged and discharged.

Quick take: The claims, among the most ambitious by any major researcher in recent memory, come in a paper co-authored by John Goodenough, a celebrated 95-year-old professor at the University of Texas who invented the battery used by almost every cell phone on the planet. It was published in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society with co-authors Maria Helena Braga and two other researchers.

In addition to its assertions on energy density and capacity, the paper's main claims include:

It is a solid state battery, using no liquid electrolyte, the main cause of lithium-ion battery fires.

It uses no cobalt, an expensive metal contained in almost all commercial lithium-ion batteries. In recent months, China has all-but cornered the market for cobalt, whose price has sky-rocketed.

More:
https://www.axios.com/battery-pioneer-1528047409-d0515380-1881-4e96-891f-3763eaa84666.html

[Wellstone ruled]

1. That is GREAT.

[MattP]

2. ExxonMobil going to have to buy another patent i guess

On the square

[caraher]

3. There's also a lot of skepticism about the claims

We'll see. Hope it's a genuine breakthrough