Lithium batteries will remain here for many years to come - along with new technologies for storing electricity

This is according to a study by experts from the Technion and Germany * According to Prof. Yair Ein-Eli: "We propose to speak in terms of 'complementary technologies' and a multi-technological future rather than 'post-lithium'. This is a complex future that it is important to prepare for, so that we will be able to provide the optimal solutions for the various needs - electric cars, electricity storage at the home and national level, and so on."

Lithium batteries of all types will remain with us for many years to come - so states a group of leading experts from Israel and Germany, who discussed the issue at a conference held in Berlin. The findings were recently published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials in an article led by Prof. Yair Ein-Eli, Dean of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and his main partners from the Hebrew University, the Helmholtz Institute in Ulm and the Energy Institute in Jülich in Germany.

Lithium is the lightest and most active metal in the periodic table of the elements, and its chemical symbol is Li. For the first time this metal was used to store electricity in 1970, with the development of the first lithium battery at Exxon. Since then, this technology has undergone many changes, including the lithium-ion battery developed in 1993. This technology, based on the combination of lithium ion in host material matrices, earned its inventor the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

In the last decade, there have been talks among experts in the field of batteries about the end of the era of lithium batteries and the coming "post-lithium era". The Israeli-German group of experts shows in the new article that the rumors about the death of lithium batteries were premature.

According to Prof. Ein-Eli, "Our article is based on a meeting of the best experts in the field, which took place in Berlin last year for five days as part of GIBS4 - the German-Israeli school in the field of batteries. In the context of the discussed question, the answer that emerged from the conference is clear - lithium batteries of all types will remain with us for many years to come. However, they will thrive alongside other storage technologies, which is why we propose to speak in terms of 'complementary technologies' and a multi-technological future rather than 'post-lithium'. This is a complex future that it is important to prepare for, so that we will be able to provide the optimal solutions for the various needs - electric cars, electricity storage at the home and national level, and so on."

The meeting in Germany and the publication of the article were supported by the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany, the Helmholtz Institute, the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Prime Minister's Office (through the Malach Program) and the Technion Grand Energy Program.