What if a common element, rather than scarce expensive ones, was a key component in electric car batteries? A collaboration co-led by an Oregon State University chemistry researcher is hoping to spark a green battery revolution by showing that iron instead of cobalt and nickel can be used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries.
The findings, published in Science Advances, are important for multiple reasons, Oregon State's Xiulei "David" Ji notes.
"We've transformed the reactivity of iron metal, the cheapest metal commodity," he said. "Our electrode can offer a higher energy density than the state-of-the-art cathode materials in electric vehicles. And since we use iron, whose cost can be less than a dollar per kilogram—a small fraction of nickel and cobalt, which are indispensable in current high-energy lithium-ion batteries—the cost of our batteries is potentially much lower."
At present, the cathode represents 50% of the cost in making a lithium-ion battery cell, Ji said. Beyond economics, iron-based cathodes would allow for greater safety and sustainability, he added.
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