lithium batteries

Portable solar generators are making their way from the fringes of solar and energy storage to become a mainstream consumer item. The rise has been charged by a range of factors that have created massive brands. Where did the sector emerge from, who was buying before, who is buying now, and what’s next? Tristan Rayner reports.

Researchers in China have summarized the technical issues hindering the development of hard carbon, which is regarded as the most promising anode for high-performance, commercial sodium-ion batteries.

The companies will collaborate on what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind attempt to incorporate QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery technology into stationary energy storage products.

US scientists have assessed the viability and potential supply chain impact of extracting lithium from geothermal brines, and they have reported promising results.

Researchers from Tokyo Tech, AIST, and Yamagata University have demonstrated drastic reduction of resistance at the interface between the positive electrode and solid electrolyte of an all-solid-state lithium battery is achievable by annealing the entire battery cell.

Tesla acquired the Californian supercapacitor maker in 2019, leading some to speculate its EVs would use ‘supercaps’ for top acceleration. Two years on, it appears Elon Musk has moved on and sold Maxwell to UCAP Power, but Tesla has retained the company’s dry electrode tech.

Scientists in the U.S. developed a new cathode design for lithium-ion batteries that they say could open up a range of different materials for further research. The group has high hopes that the discovery can quickly be brought to scale, easing some of the growing concerns around supply chains for battery materials.

Lithium-ion battery products will be sold by the group’s storage and autoglass business to its solar glass operation–for use in solar project development–and its float glass manufacturing unit.