AI finds new material to power batteries to reduce lithium use،
If you follow science fiction movies, you know that artificial intelligence (AI) could take over the world in the future. It remains to be seen whether this is true or not. For now, we are reaping the benefits of AI, and one such example was recently recorded when AI discovered a new material that can be used in batteries, replacing the age-old reliance on lithium.
AI has found a new material to power batteries
Lithium is a key element in the manufacture of batteries for smartphones, electric vehicles and beyond. However, the latest developments could offer manufacturers better alternatives to combat the growing demand for lithium and the current supply shortage.
The new material is a kind of solid electrolyte recently used to power a light bulb. Developed by Microsoft and researchers at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PPNL) using the Azure Quantum Elements (AQE) supercomputer and Microsoft AI.
Researchers have used EQA to formulate battery materials that use less lithium. The AQE rejected a result of 32 million different candidates, which was narrowed down to 500,000 after discerning which materials were stable. The researchers were able to shortlist 23 candidates after further filtering the candidates to find the best ones.
All of these tests could take less than a week, which would have taken decades if the same thing had been done in traditional labs. PNNL researchers were able to synthesize one of the promising candidates that powered a light bulb as a prototype. The entire process took less than nine months, from the start of development to the end, when testing on the bulb was carried out.
Speaking of this solid electrolyte currently called N2116 (but still unnamed), it uses a combination of sodium and lithium. It is safer than the lithium-ion batteries used today, which are based on liquid electrolytes and are prone to overheating. In fact, in some cases these batteries explode, catching fire or smoking like a chimney.
We are still at an early stage of development and it would therefore take some time before the next generation of batteries can power the various systems around the world.
Krysta Svora, head of the Microsoft Quantum – Redmone (QuArC) group at Microsoft Research, says she wants to compress 250 years of scientific discoveries into the next 25 years. Perhaps this is where AI and quantum computing play a vital role that could eventually help find promising new elements and reduce greenhouse gases and emissions.
The undeniable problem of lithium
We already have lithium-ion batteries in our smartphones and in fact, all battery-operated or battery-powered devices have them. This begs the question: why do researchers want to replace lithium? Here's why.
Lithium is often considered “white gold” due to its appearance and exorbitant market value. It is currently facing huge demand across the world, which is expected to increase tenfold by 2030. However, lithium comes from lithium mines and this is a very controversial topic.
The reason is that it will take several years before lithium mining has a negative impact on the environment. It takes large amounts of energy and water to extract this precious metal which is then processed and used to power batteries in devices and machines. However, this has future implications in terms of devastated landscapes and toxic waste as a by-product.
The world is already facing a lithium shortage and this is expected to peak in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. AI can help find promising results by replacing lithium batteries with better and more efficient materials such as that found by the Microsoft team and PNNL.
AI can help accelerate innovation cycles as it can help modify, test, adjust chemical compositions and assess the viability of materials and the battery of work made from them at a rapid pace compared to traditional methods .
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