Oregon university plans to develop new rechargeable battery

A research team led by Oregon State University is planning to develop a new rechargeable battery that could reduce the need for environmentally destructive mining of rare minerals like nickel and lithium and accelerate the clean energy transition.The U.S. Department of Energy awarded OSU $3 million to explore the development of a new rechargeable battery technology that would accelerate the clean energy transition without relying on rare finite minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. OSU chemistry professor Xiulei “David” Ji, who will lead a battery research team, said it could be a game-changer.“It’s a new paradigm,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “We are very excited and very grateful to have this opportunity to work on this project.” As the world transitions from fossil fuels to clean energy to reduce contributions to climate change, there is a growing need for batteries to store renewable energy and power electric vehicles. The resulting battery boom has generated environmental concerns because of the impacts of mining battery materials such as lithium, and it has driven up prices and demand for the minerals used to make batteries.