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Lithium Ions Replaced with Magnesium


Guest_Jim_*

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Battery technology is important all over the world, so a great many are working on ways to advance the field. One of the ways of doing this is to change the chemistry involved and move away from lithium ions, to something more potent. This is what researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have been working towards, by replacing lithium with magnesium.

Lithium ions possess a single positive charge, which translates to a single electron that a battery can release or store. Magnesium ions though have two positive charges, so a magnesium-ion battery would have double the energy density and power. Actually creating a magnesium-ion battery is not easy, but the Illinois researchers have made an important step by successfully swapping them in for lithium in part of a battery. It is important to show that magnesium ions can move in and out of the electrodes of a battery like lithium ions already do, before a battery can be realized, and that is what the researchers have achieved.

What the researchers have built is still only part of a battery, but it demonstrates the reaction we would find in a battery. Obviously more work needs to be done to reach that goal, but you can believe many are going to take this research and run with it.

Source: University of Illinois at Chicago


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