Improvements to battery chemistry inspired by nickel-iron designs developed more than 120 years ago could be used in energy storage today, according to a study by University of California (UCLA).
UCLA researchers have developed a nickel-iron battery prototype that charges in seconds and works for more than 12,000 cycles, equivalent to more than 30 years of daily recharging.
They built the technology from tiny clusters of metal, then embedded them in an ultra-thin carbon-based conductor to make electrodes – inspired by the chemistry used by Thomas Edison in his early-1900s nickel-iron battery concept. Edison hoped the technology could provide electric cars with faster recharging and greater range than the lead-acid batteries of the time, but his designs became obsolete as petrol cars began to dominate.
While the UCLA team improved on the original concept’s charging speed, output and durability, its battery does not match the storage capabilities of the lithium-ion batteries used in today...