India develops new iron-ion battery

Recently, Indian researchers announced the development of a rechargeable iron-ion battery that uses low-carbon steel as the anode and has the advantages of high cost performance and high power storage capacity.

The relevant research results were recently published in Chemical Communications, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The paper said that the iron-ion battery developed by the research team of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras uses low-carbon steel as the anode, vanadium pentoxide as the cathode, and an ether-based electrolyte containing iron perchlorate.

Research shows that this battery can be charged and discharged 150 times, and can still maintain 54% of its power at the end of 50 cycles, showing good stability. When this battery is manufactured under specific conditions, its energy density can reach 220 watt-hours per kilogram, which is about 60% of lithium-ion batteries . The energy density of this battery manufactured under normal conditions is close to 40% of lithium-ion batteries.

The researchers said that if pure iron is used as the anode, iron ions do not easily move from the anode to the cathode and back to the anode during charging, but the small amount of carbon present in mild steel promotes this cycle. They believe that iron-ion batteries are more stable during charging, prevent battery short circuits, and are also cheaper than commonly used lithium-ion batteries.

The team's next focus is to try different cathode materials to further improve the performance of iron-ion batteries.