New battery designs could lead to gains in power and capacity

All have had what it takes to serve as a cathode for a battery: namely, an ability to have electrons ripped away from their atoms to be turned into electric current, leaving positively charged ions behind. For the past four decades, though, it is lithium that has beaten all comers. Lightweight and reactive, it serves as an ideal cathode component; lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are widely used in electricity grids and can be found in most of the world’s electric vehicles. So effective are lithium-based cathodes that scientists hoping to make batteries better and more powerful are turning their attention instead to the other, long-overshadowed components of cells. Those efforts are starting to pay off.