Post lithium-ion batteries

Announcements of developments to alternative, next-generation, non-lithium battery chemistries, including redox flow, metal-air, or sodium-ion batteries, are now a regular occurrence. Despite interest in these alternatives, Li-ion batteries remain the dominant choice for consumer devices, electric vehicles, and stationary storage. However, the importance of non-lithium battery chemistries is expected to grow considerably over the next 10 years, especially in the stationary energy storage sector. By 2025, IDTechEx forecast that >10% of the stationary market will be accounted for by non-lithium chemistries, up from <5% in 2021.

In our surreal world, we continue to subsidize fossil fuels. We rarely subsidize the huge missing link on the way to 100% renewables, which is providing massive amounts of delayed electricity. People misunderstand. They think we do. Uniquely, the IDTechEx report "Future Stationary Energy Storage: Hydrogen, Batteries, Gravity, Gas, Other 2022-2042" looks at all the proliferating needs and technologies on the essential 20-year timescale ahead. It finds that the problems are largely solved of very brief fluctuations previously avoided by the momentum of rotating machines used in fossil fuel plants.

To date, Li-ion batteries have been the go-to technology for vehicle electrification and new stationary energy storage systems. However, the supply chain for Li-ion production is coming under increasing scrutiny with bottlenecks feasible during the second half of the 2020s, creating a potential opportunity for alternative battery chemistries not reliant on lithium, cobalt, or nickel.

This article will highlight some of the key topics addressed for graphene in LiB electrode advancement, post-LiB chemistry changes, supercapacitors, and thermal dissipation.