Can water-based batteries plug the EV industry’s need for lithium? In a bid to wean off reliance on lithium as a critical mineral for EV battery production, automakers and researchers around the world are looking at alternative battery minerals that are not as expensive or as rare, with viable alternatives being studied including sodium-ion cells. Researchers at Texas A&M University in the US are developing water-based, non-metal battery conductors, according to research published in Nature Materials.

Water-based how? Similar to regular batteries, the models the researchers have been developing over the past few years entail the same building blocks of conventional cells: cathodes, anodes, and electrolytes. The significant differences in the cells they are developing is the use of electrodes (battery conductors) sourced from polymers instead of metallic alternatives, and the use of electrolytes (essential minerals such as potassium, calcium, and sodium) sourced from water and organic salts. The polymers, unlike metals that swell up when interacting with electrodes, are more heat-resistant and do not expand when in contact with electrodes, leading to a power storage capacity that is 1k% higher than lithium counterparts, the study notes.

What they’ve learned: The recording of redox reactions — oxidation-reduction interactions that see electrons transferred between different materials, as is the case of polymers reacting with water-based electrolytes — by the Texas A&M scientists is making the case that non-conjugated polymers are ideal materials to create high discharge voltage electrodes for a host of different applications, including EV battery production.

Next steps: The researchers are working on resolving reactions between their polymer electrodes and electrolytes, which see simultaneous transfers of ions, electrons, and water molecules. They also plan to conduct simulations to study the energy storage capacity of radical polymers in aqueous environments.

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