Nikhil Koratkar led a team of engineers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in a research project that resulted in a rechargeable lithium battery with components made entirely of carbon. This energy storage device is made without the toxic metal cobalt commonly used in producing lithium-ion batteries.
Koratkar and his team paired an anode and cathode made from graphene with metallic lithium to create the all-carbon battery. "Metallic lithium is avoided in lithium-ion batteries due to its tendency to form dendrites which are considered unsafe, but we show that metallic lithium trapped within a porous graphene structure is safe and does not form dendrites," explained Koratkar.
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