Scientists have used sand to create a lithium ion battery that outperforms the current industry standard by three times.
“This is the holy grail — a low cost, non-toxic, environmentally friendly way to produce high performance lithium ion battery anodes,” said Zachary Favors, a graduate student working with Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan, both engineering professors at University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering.
Graphite is the current standard material for the anode, but as electronics have become more powerful graphite’s ability to be improved has been virtually tapped out.
Which is why newer materials are required.