AI Creates Batterhy Design That Use Less Lithium

Artificial Intelligence (AI), has helped Researchers develope a Battery from scratch in just months, that is less dependent on Lithium, a Goal of Materials Science for years.

Lithium-Ion Batteries Power many devices we use every day, as well as Electric Vehicles (EVs). But the Metal they rely on is Expensive and Mining it Damages the Environment, so People have been seeking alternatives.

Now, Nathan Baker at Microsoft and His Colleagues have created a Battery that uses upto 70% less Lithium, than some competing versions, and they accomplished the Task in Months with the Help of AI.

The Researchers focused on a type of Battery that only contains Solid Parts and looked for New Materials for the compound that Electric charges moves through, called the Electrolyte.

They started with 23.6 million candidate Materials designed by tweaking the structure og established Electrolytes and swapping some Lithium atoms for other Elements.

An AI Algorithm then Eliminated the Materials that it calculated would be Unstable, as well as those in which the Chemical Reactions that makes Batteries work would be Weak.

The Researchers picked One of thr AI's shortlist Materials to synthesise in the lab. It stood out to team members Vijay Murugesan at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State because half of what He would have expected to be Lithium atoms were replaced with Sodium.

His Team built a Working Battery with this Material, albeit One with a Lower Conductivity than similar Prototpes that use more Lithium. Homever, Murugesan says the Battery could be Improved. And the process of making it, from the First time He spoke to the Microsoft Team, to the Battery being able to turn on a Light bulb, just took Nine months.

The Team used AI to accelerate calculations that Physicists have been doing for Decades, says Rafael Gomez-Bombarell at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The methods here are bleeeding edge, in terms of machine-learning Tools, but what really elevates this is that things got made and tested."









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