Metal-air batteries are one important line of development as promising energy storage devices from low-power electronics to large-scale applications. These batteries hold a promise to provide very high theoretical energy densities, environmental friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and safety.
Among various possible anode candidates for metal-air batteries, mostly zinc, aluminum, iron, and silicon have been the focus of research. On the other hand, titanium has hardly been considered an active material, and experimental results have not yet been available.
Now, researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have successfully developed and lab-tested a novel titanium-air battery (Ti–air battery). The battery is developed in cooperation with researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
Metal-air batteries are particularly suitable for applications where compact size is important and in large-scale stationary storage systems that use low-cost, common, and non-toxic materials. Titanium, although known as an expensive material, is much cheaper than lithium in terms of material costs but is more expensive than aluminum. The metal is the ninth most frequently occurring material in the earth’s crust, so the available resources are correspondingly abundant.
Also, Titanium is of interest as an electricity storage material because each atom can donate up to four electrons for charge transfer while being relatively light and extremely resistant.
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