Honda develops commercial magnesium battery, will it be the savior of mobile devices?

Honda Motor and a research and development team have developed the world's first practical magnesium rechargeable battery. Japanese media reported that the new battery could be a game-changer, allowing smartphones and other devices to last longer on a single charge. For device manufacturers, magnesium costs 96% less than lithium, which is used in many batteries today.

The Saitama Industrial Technology Center (Saitec), which led the development, reportedly evaluated the feasibility of the battery in Wako City. Developers expect magnesium batteries to be commercially available in smartphones and other portable devices at first. Magnesium battery developers hope to sell products by 2018. Honda Motor and the Saitec team will present the battery at a science conference in Chiba (near Tokyo, Japan) next month.

For the past few decades, we have been using lithium batteries, and now technology companies have encountered difficulties and face challenges in storing more electricity in lithium batteries. The Saitec and Honda teams may have found a solution. They confirmed that the magnesium prototype battery is comparable to lithium batteries in life and safety, and the researchers are working with several battery manufacturers to find ways to mass-produce magnesium batteries.

Many researchers are also looking for ways to use magnesium in rechargeable batteries, but they all encounter the same difficulty. The charging performance of magnesium will deteriorate rapidly during the process of charging and discharging, discharging and charging.

To solve this problem, researchers developed a new material, vanadium oxide, and coated it on the positive electrode, so that ions can flow more easily between the vanadium oxide and the magnesium negative electrode. Vanadium oxide can increase the number of times magnesium can be charged and prevent degradation. To improve safety, researchers added an organic substance that can reduce the risk of fire in magnesium batteries. Magnesium itself is a flammable material.

If the heat resistance of magnesium batteries can be further enhanced in the future and the amount of power stored can be further increased, companies can install magnesium batteries in plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. What is a magnesium battery? Historically, researchers have tried to make magnesium-ion batteries since the 1980s. It was not until around 2000 that D. Aurbach's team at Bar-Ilan University in Israel overcame the shortcomings of magnesium and developed a prototype battery with an organohalo aluminum magnesium (Mg organohalo aluminate) liquid electrolyte and Mo6S8 anode, making it possible to make a lightweight, non-toxic, and cheap rechargeable magnesium battery. In 2003, a new solid electrolyte was developed that was cheap, had good conductivity, and had a wide operating temperature range (0~80°C), and then a better anode material was developed to increase the energy storage density of magnesium batteries. In 2014, a research team composed of Professor Hong Feiyi of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and the Center for Precious Instruments also used the control of the iron oxide reduction mechanism to greatly improve the stability of magnesium batteries. This highly efficient and temperature-resistant magnesium-ion battery is expected to replace lithium batteries in the future. Tesla CEO has repeatedly stated that Tesla and its super factory are ready to develop magnesium batteries. Compared with the current mainstream lithium-ion batteries, magnesium-ion batteries have the following advantages: low cost and safety: magnesium is abundant in the earth and non-toxic. High energy storage performance: magnesium ions exist in the form of Mg2+, while lithium ions are Li+. Therefore, if two batteries use magnesium ions and lithium ions with the same density, the battery energy storage density using magnesium ions as the medium for transferring electrons will be twice that of lithium batteries. Therefore, magnesium-ion batteries have a high charge and store more charge per gram, which allows cars to travel longer distances and increase the use time of electronic products. Lithium- ion battery factories can be used: the transition from traditional lithium batteries to magnesium batteries will not be greatly affected in terms of battery design. The factory only needs to update the corresponding assembly line tools. However, magnesium-ion batteries also have the disadvantage of slow movement: magnesium ions exist in the form of Mg2+. When magnesium ions combine with two electrons, the entire nucleus has twice the negative charge. The more negative charge, the stronger the ability to attract other magnesium ions. According to experimental results, magnesium ions will be affected by about four adjacent ions. Therefore, when magnesium ions carry twice the charge, they move much slower between the two poles filled with electrolyte. Therefore, finding an electrolyte suitable for the movement of magnesium ions is an important research direction. Computer models show that magnesium ions in the electrolyte will be affected by four other adjacent ions. In response to the above problems, researchers have proposed two solutions: Develop magnesium metal anodes: This type of anode can efficiently transfer charge, but is incompatible with conventional electrolytes. Therefore, researchers are looking for new electrolytes that are well compatible with magnesium. Develop new anodes that are compatible with conventional electrolytes: Toyota's paper proves that it is worth further research, especially in finding a high-capacitance, high-voltage anode. Compared with lithium metal, the mining cost of magnesium metal is lower, and the utilization value is great. Toyota has invested heavily in related technologies, and Tesla has repeatedly stated in public that Tesla and its super battery factory are ready to embrace magnesium batteries. Developing magnesium batteries can bring many benefits, so the feasibility of commercialization is very high.

This article is a compilation of media reports from Phoenix Technology and other media

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