From Cosmos (15/5/25)…
New stable grid-size battery to be developed in South Australia
An Adelaide research team has received funding to develop next-generation grid-size batteries.
The team is looking at an “all temperature aqueous zinc ion” approach, which they say will be safer and will operate at wider temperature ranges than the present go-to battery for grid stabilisation – lithium ion (li-ion) – and existing lead acid batteries.
The Australian Research Council will fund a 3-year program led by postdoc chemical engineer Sailin Liu and her team, with a private firm, IonDrive Technology, to find a replacement for li-ion batteries.
Liu says she expects the aqueous battery will not have the same density, or capacity, as existing li-ion batteries. “But they will be safer, and they can run stably at a temperature range of -40°C to +60°C,” Liu told Cosmos.
Existing stationery batteries operate at temperatures between about -10°C and 40°C.
