AWARD YEAR
2021
CATEGORY
Home
GOALS
Affordable & Clean Energy
KEYWORDS
Batteries, sustainable energy, portable energy, Energy Efficiency
COUNTRY
United States of America
DESIGNED BY
IBM
WEBSITE
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2019/12/heavy-metal-free-battery/
IBM's sustainable battery
Seawater-batteries free from cobalt, nickel and other heavy metals
As battery-powered alternatives for everything from vehicles to smart energy grids are explored, there remain significant concerns around the sustainability of available battery technologies.
Many battery materials, including heavy metals such as nickel and cobalt, pose tremendous environmental and humanitarian risks. Cobalt in particular, which is largely available in central Africa, has come under fire for careless and exploitative extraction practices.
Using three new and different proprietary materials, which have never before been recorded as being combined in a battery, our team at IBM Research has discovered a chemistry for a new battery which does not use heavy metals or other substances with sourcing concerns.
The materials for this battery are able to be extracted from seawater, laying the groundwork for less invasive sourcing techniques than current material mining methods.