The advantages of magnesium batteries

New cathodes and electrolytes have been developed to make high-power magnesium batteries possible.

Magnesium batteries have long been considered an ideal alternative to lithium batteries because they are safer and cheaper.But the development of magnesium batteries has been limited by their limited capacity.

Researchers at the University of Houston and the Toyota North America Research Institute have developed a new cathode and electrolyte that can be used to make high-power magnesium batteries that not only work at room temperature, but also have a power density comparable to lithium batteries, foreign media reported.The cathode and electrolyte have been the limiting factors for the development of magnesium batteries.

Magnesium ions have twice the charge of lithium ions, but they have close ionic radii.Thus, at room temperature, the dissociation of magnesium in the electrolyte and its diffusion in the electrode (two important processes occurring at the intercalated cathode) are very slow, resulting in low power performance.Solutions to these challenges include improving their chemical reactions at high temperatures, or trying to circumvent this problem by storing magnesium ions in complex forms, neither of which is actually feasible.

Yanyao, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston, United States, said the researchers made a breakthrough by combining an organic quinone cathode with a custom-made new boron cluster electrolyte solution."We use a heteroenylation REDOX chemical method to create a cathode that is not hindered by ionic dissociation or solid diffusion, and thus does not interfere with the effective operation of magnesium batteries at room temperature," the professor said.This novel REDOX chemical reaction, which does not require a solid intercalation and stores only magnesium (instead of its complex form), opens a new avenue for electrode design in magnesium batteries."

TRINA researchers have made great strides in the field of magnesium batteries, including the development of highly recognized high-efficiency electrolytes based on boron cluster anions.However, this electrolyte still has an effect on the high cell cycle rate.RanaMohtadi, principal scientist at TRINA's Materials Research unit, said: "We believe that, in theory, an electrolyte based on these weak coordination anions should have the potential to support very high cycle rates, so we have been working on improving its properties.When we focused on solvents and how we could reduce their binding to magnesium ions and improve the overall transport power, we found a solution.To our delight, with improved electrolyte plating, magnesium remains smooth even at ultra-high cycle rates.We believe this discovery heralds a new direction in the field of magnesium battery electrochemistry."

"The new magnesium battery has a power density nearly two orders of magnitude higher than previous magnesium batteries and is capable of running more than 200 cycles with a capacity retention rate of 82 percent, demonstrating high stability," another researcher said.We can further improve the cycle stability by adjusting the film's performance to enhance the intermediate trapping capability."