Environmental Screening of Electrode Materials for a Rechargeable Aluminum Battery with an AlCl₃/EMIMCl Electrolyte.

Linda Ellingsen,Etienne Knipping,Guillaume Majeau-Bettez,Richard Wills,Qiaoyan Pan,Martin Eckert,Willi Peters,Carlos Concepcion,Jean-François Colin,Jean-Francois Drillet,Oscar Ruiz,Alex Holland

doi:10.3390/ma11060936

Abstract

Recently, rechargeable aluminum batteries have received much attention due to their low cost, easy operation, and high safety. As the research into rechargeable aluminum batteries with a room-temperature ionic liquid electrolyte is relatively new, research efforts have focused on finding suitable electrode materials. An understanding of the environmental aspects of electrode materials is essential to make informed and conscious decisions in aluminum battery development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the relative environmental performance of electrode material candidates for rechargeable aluminum batteries with an AlCl3/EMIMCl (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride) room-temperature ionic liquid electrolyte. To this end, we used a lifecycle environmental screening framework to evaluate 12 candidate electrode materials. We found that all of the studied materials are associated with one or more drawbacks and therefore do not represent a “silver bullet” for the aluminum battery. Even so, some materials appeared more promising than others did. We also found that aluminum battery technology is likely to face some of the same environmental challenges as Li-ion technology but also offers an opportunity to avoid others. The insights provided here can aid aluminum battery development in an environmentally sustainable direction.

Highlights

The energy supply sector is the largest contributor to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1]
That we have considered the various lifecycle aspects, we briefly describe the data that were used to evaluate the various aspects to yield a complete assessment of the different electrode material used to evaluate the various aspects to yield a complete assessment of the different electrode material candidates; a more thorough account can be found in Appendix A
Even though various synthesis methods were used in the Al-ion battery development project (ALION) project to produce to produce the same materials, we only considered the material with superior electrochemical the same materials, we only considered the material with superior electrochemical performance in performance in this screening

Summary

Introduction

The energy supply sector is the largest contributor (approximately 35%) to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1]. Decarbonizing electricity generation is a key component of cost-effective mitigation strategies in reducing the sector’s high GHG emissions [1]. The intermittence of these technologies requires efficient and economical electrical energy storage systems [3,4,5]. Li-ion batteries are the prevailing choice for electrical energy storage due to their favorable characteristics such as long cycle life, low memory effect, high cycling efficiency, and high energy and power densities [3,6,7,8,9]. Concerns regarding the high battery cost and the limited and geographically concentrated lithium reserves in the earth’s crust are driving research into alternative energy storage solutions [10,11,12]

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Conclusion