Scientists are working to offset the harms of EV expansion

_StoryTags_! EVs, MINING, critical minerals, battery storage, Fuel Cells

Scientists are innovating new technologies to address the environmental impact of the growing demand on energy storage capacity, Bloomberg reported last week. The new efforts will be critical as the environmental impact of mining and processing the needed minerals for energy storage systems becomes clearer. For example, Hydrogen fuel cells are made of a polymer backbone containing perfluorochemicals (PFCs), which are linked to health problems and can last for hundreds or thousands of years in the environments.

Why is this important? Around 45 GW of new energy storage capacity was added in 2023 alone, roughly three times the amount added in 2022.

Some innovative solutions so far: Scientists from Switzerland’s ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are developing an alternative material for hydrogen fuel cells using chicken feathers to avoid using PFCs and reduce costs.

Other alternatives: Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney have developed a new anode material made of food acids and metal particles as an alternative to graphite that can store twice as much energy, but still have to figure out how to scale it up for commercial use in a process that could take years. Meanwhile, scientists from Northwestern University in the US are working on a molecule that can self-assemble in water to be charged like a battery and can operate at low voltage as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.