Researchers Test High-Capacity Titanium-Air Battery

Researchers have, for the first time, tested a titanium-air battery, which could theoretically store up to three times more energy than standard batteries.

That would be a major advantage over the zinc-air combination currently used in hearing aids, sensors and other small devices. 

The study was conducted by scientists at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, a German research institute.

The researchers succeeded in utilizing its potential as a battery by applying a liquid that consists of salt and has a low melting point, also known as an ionic liquid. 

Titanium-air batteries may also be used for large-scale stationary storage systems that use low-cost, common, and non-toxic materials. It could be a replacement for lithium, which is a more expensive resource. 

Titanium is the ninth most frequently occurring material in the Earth’s crust, and there are plenty of its resources available for battery use. 

In metal-air batteries, the contained metal reacts with the oxygen in the air to release electrical energy. Unlike other kinds of batteries, it obtains oxygen from the ambient air via a special electrode and does not have to be kept in the battery.

Therefore, significantly higher energy densities can be realized with these systems than with common battery types, at least in theory.

The study was published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.