From laptops to electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries power everyday life. However, as demand for longer-lasting devices threatens to outstrip the energy that lithium-ion supplies, researchers are on the hunt for more powerful batteries.
A team led by Kelsey Hatzell, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has uncovered insights that could help power a new type of battery, called an anode-free solid-state battery, past lithium-ion's limitations.
By understanding how these advanced solid-state batteries operate and fail under different conditions, Hatzell's research is informing efforts to improve their performance and manufacturability, helping them to move from the lab to the real world to support the clean energy transition.
"If we can successfully introduce these up-and-coming batteries, we can access energy densities that are impossible with conventional batteries," said Hatzell. "It would mean that your laptop and your phone would last longer on a charge. It could allow electric vehicles to hit over 500 miles on a charge. It could even move us toward feats that seem impossible today, like electrified aviation."
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