Researchers have created a more energy dense storage material for iron-based batteries.
Researchers have created a more energy dense storage material for iron-based batteries. The breakthrough could also improve applications in MRI technology and magnetic levitation.
In his 2018 doctoral thesis, Stanford University alumnus William Gent suggested an advance for an iron-based material that, if attainable, would create a higher energy state for iron – a breakthrough that could significantly improve energy storage and possibly other technologies.
However, Gent was able to take only an initial stab at making the material before his doctoral clock ran out.
Cut to 2025: Three subsequent Stanford PhD students, Hari Ramachandran, Edward Mu, and Eder Lomeli, led an interdisciplinary team that built off of Gent’s work to achieve a fundamental discovery that indeed created a higher potential energy state than what was previously thought possible for an iron-based material. The team comprises 23 scientists spanning three U.S. universities, four U.S. national laboratories, and universities in Japan and South Korea. Nature Materials published the results of this team’s work earlier this month.
Read More: Stanford University
Image: When three becomes five. Eder Lomeli, Edward Mu, and Hari Ramachandran (front row, from left) led an international team in getting an iron-based material to give up and take back five electrons, rather than the previous limit of three. (Credit: Bill Rivard)
