Chinese scientists create new battery with electrolyte as safe as tofu brine

Chinese scientists have made a long-lasting, eco-friendly battery using organic electrodes and an electrolyte safe enough to be used as tofu brine.

The team’s water-based battery is non-toxic and can be discarded without posing an ecological risk, unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries which require hazardous waste processing.

Water-based batteries eliminate the flammability risk of conventional batteries and can be cheaper to produce, offering a safer alternative for applications like electric vehicles and large-scale grid storage.

“Compared with current aqueous battery systems … our system delivers exceptional long-term cycling stability and environmental friendliness under neutral conditions,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on February 18.

According to the researchers from City University of Hong Kong, Yanan University, the Southern University of Science and Technology and Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, their battery can last over 120,000 recharge cycles with minimal performance loss.

“Such performance highlights the research potential of this work and underscores its promise for practical application,” the team said.

South China Morning Post