Battery breakthrough paves the way for safer, more powerful phones and cars

Hydride-ion batteries offer higher capacity than conventional lithium-ion units

An early plug-in electric vehicle pictured on 19 July 2007 (Getty Images)

Scientists in China have developed a new kind of battery that could transform how we power everything from smartphones to electric cars.

The breakthrough, made by a team from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in Liaoning, involves a type of battery called hydride ion, which offer several major benefits compared to conventional batteries.

Unlike today’s lithium-ion batteries, which rely on liquid electrolytes, the new device uses hydrogen ions moving through a solid medium.

They are lighter in weight and have a higher energy potential, however until now researchers have struggled to keep them stable at room temperature.

This meant hydride-ion batteries only worked at high temperatures, making them unsuitable for consumer use.

To overcome this, the Chinese researchers created something referred to as a “core-shell” electrolyte that allows fast ion movement within a stable environment.

Using this configuration, the team built a working device that was able to power a small LED lamp, which they said demonstrated its “immense potential” for “safe, efficient, and sustainable energy storage”.

The battery delivered a discharge capacity of 984 mAh/g at room temperature, which is significantly higher than the 100–250 mAh/g that commercial lithium-ion batteries typically deliver.

The use of solid hydride electrolytes also reduces the risk of fire and catastrophic thermal runaway compared to lithium-ion batteries.

A schematic diagram of the first room-temperature all-solid-state hydride ion battery (DICP)

If successfully scaled, the discovery could prove as impactful as the first commercial rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in the 1990s.

Several significant obstacles remain before the new hydride-ion batteries can be used in consumer goods, with the researchers noting that the battery’s performance dropped off after just 20 charge cycles.

The research was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday in a study, titled ‘A room temperature rechargeable all-solid-state hydride ion battery’.