New battery materials must indisputably improve sustainability standards with respect to mining, transport, processing and recycling. This is where "multivalent batteries" come into play!

Multivalent batteries are electrochemical storage technologies that employ "multivalent ions", e.g., Mg2+, Ca2+, Zn2+, Al3+ as the active charge carrier in the battery electrolytes as well as in the battery anodes & cathodes. Materials such as magnesium, calcium, zinc or aluminum are much more abundant compared to materials inside a traditional lithium-ion battery.

Our podcast guest is emphasizing another aspect: Multivalent batteries theoretically even provide greater energy density and storage capacity! This is due to their greater valency. Our guest expert, Prof. Dr. M. Rosa Palacín Peiro is a Spanish battery researcher at the "Institute of Materials Science" of Barcelona. She is a member of the "Alistore ERI" Network of Excellence, the President of the "International Battery Association" (IBA) and a member of the Governing Board for "Batteries Europe" (European Commission). She explains why multivalent batteries will be driven by the speed of research, sustainability, supply chains and price!

Multivalent Charge Carriers - Download a chapter on multivalent batteries for the Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry: https://hiu-batteries.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Encyclopedia_Electrochemistry.pdf

Headlines on multivalent battery cell chemistries:

1) https://www.engineering.com/story/amid-record-lithium-prices-battery-researchers-turn-to-calcium

2) https://www.newscientist.com/article/2336296-battery-made-of-crab-shell-and-zinc-is-rechargeable-and-biodegradable/

3) https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/revving-up-energy-storage-systems-1137548.html

4) https://www.intelligentliving.co/battery-made-of-salt-sulfur-and-aluminum/