Editorial: Thanks In Part to Illinois Tech Innovation, ‘Range Anxiety’ Won’t Hamper Electric Cars For Long
Fear of running out of power out of range of a recharging station is a major impediment to the widespread adoption of electric cars, but scientists in Illinois are changing that. Mohammad Asadi, an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, last month co-published a paper in the journal Science with Larry A. Curtiss and other Illinois colleagues about their work on a novel lithium-air battery that has a solid electrolyte made with a mix of polymer and ceramic. By combining those two materials, the paper argued, the product could leverage both “ceramic’s high ionic conductivity and the high stability and high interfacial connection of the polymer.” The resulting battery, the paper claimed, has the potential for “reaching ultra-high power densities far beyond current lithium-ion technology.”