Non-Flammable, Non-Toxic Batteries Under Development

Several innovations in batteries were undertaken over the years. They allowed advances in the development of electronic devices, robotics, electric vehicles, and modern machines. However, making batteries safer in different conditions during their widespread use hasn't been an easy task for developers.

Some fire incidents have also dscouraged many customers to purchase electric vehicles and larger machines powered by batteries.

Under this scenario, a startup has developed a non-flammable battery. Alsym Energy's high-performance, inherently non-flammable, and non-toxic batteries are aimed at replacing lithium cells.

Claimed to be a low-cost solution, Alsym's batteries support a wide range of discharge durations.

The company maintains that its new battery chemistry is unrelated to anything currently available on the market.

Their metal-oxide battery chemistry leverages a mechanism analogous to the one found in lithium-ion batteries, with the working ion shuttling between the anode and cathode.

Although functionally similar to lithium-ion cells, Alsym's batteries utilize non-flammable, non-toxic materials and a water-based electrolyte.

This design makes Alsym cells inherently dendrite-free, preventing thermal runaway and its potentially disastrous consequences.

Alsym co-founder and MIT Professor Kripa Varanasi stated that renewables are intermittent, so "you need storage, and to really solve the decarbonization problem, we need to be able to make these batteries anywhere at low cost."

The company believes its batteries, which are currently being tested by potential customers around the world, hold enormous potential to decarbonize the high-emissions industrial manufacturing sector, and they see other applications ranging from mining to powering data centers, homes, and utilities, reported MIT News.