The World's First Iron-ion Battery was Developed

A research team from madras, IIT, India, has officially developed the world's first iron-ion battery, which is expected to be a low-cost and stable alternative to existing mainstream lithium-ion batteries.

The battery is made of low carbon steel anode instead of pure iron, plus the cathode made of vanadium pentoxide, which is suitable for the movement of iron ions due to its large gap.

Iron-ion batteries also use iron chlorate as an electrolyte.

Compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries, IIT's new battery is more cost-effective, with slightly better storage capacity and stability.

The team's results suggest that because iron does not produce dendrites, iron-ion batteries are also safer to use, preventing short circuits during electrical discharge.

Another significant advantage of iron, the team says, is its favorable physical and chemical properties.

"Iron ions have a higher REDOX potential than lithium ions, and the radius of Fe2 + ions is almost the same as that of lithium ions," the team said.

"These two beneficial properties of iron have been overlooked for so many years.

That's why we don't have iron-ion rechargeable batteries, "the team added.

Despite some obvious advantages over lithium-ion batteries, the newly developed iron-ion battery still needs to be further optimized and tested, as the research team's results show that it can currently only run 150 charge and discharge cycles.

At this stage, the energy density of the battery can only reach about 220 Wh/kg, which is only about 55-60% of the energy density of the lithium ion battery 350 Wh/kg.