Push for Better Batteries Expands

Push for Better Batteries Expands

The stakes are immense. Electric vehicles and renewable energy, hailed as climate change solutions, need cheaper and better batteries to achieve widespread use. For utilities to rely on intermittent power sources such wind or solar for a large share of their electricity, they will need back-up energy storage.

So the race is on-at universities, start-ups, and major companies like GE, IBM, and Toyota-to build a battery that goes beyond the incremental changes that have improved the performance of the lithium-ion battery, the industry standard-bearer developed in the 1970s and brought to market 20 years later.

By nanosizing materials and structures, scientists are trying to identify the optimal combinations at the molecular level.

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