Research Breakthrough: Jodhpur IIT scientists find ‘lithium free’ battery option.

• Jodhpur’s Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) scientists for the first time have devised a ‘Calcium-Magnesium’ made a battery that is flawless and non-problematic in all aspects, low cost in their raw material availability and viability in manufacturing commercially.
• According to the researchers, Next-generation rechargeable batteries based on zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and aluminum (Al) are the most promising options.

Advantages:

• Lithium batteries’ fabrication and their reaction with nitrogen in the atmosphere is always dangerous leading to the fire. Whereas Calcium and Magnesium abundantly exist in marbles, tolerate heat up to 50 degrees Celsius of temperature, are available at a very low cost, have potential for recyclability, and have no disposable problems like Lithium made batteries.

Limitations:

• Besides the benefits, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have limitations and drawbacks that hinder their application for large-scale marketing and industrial applications.
• The main crisis of existing Lithium is going to be its import from Bolivia, Chilli, Brazil, USA, and China in the future as it is not produced enough in India’s Karnataka from original ore and whatever is available is usually required for Atomic Energy.

Industry expectation:

• There is an industry expectation that the market for lithium-ion batteries will expand from $30 billion in 2017 to $100 billion by 2025