Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea have developed a new battery made from regular seawater. The device is basically a sodium-air battery, thanks to seawater being an excellent catholyte – a cathode and electrolyte combined together. “A constant flow of seawater into and out of the battery provides the sodium ions and water responsible for producing a charge,” said one of the researchers. Continue reading for a video and more information.
“Their seawater battery can be compared against lithium-ion batteries by measuring discharge voltage. The seawater battery had an average discharge voltage of around 2.7 volts, according to ACS, while the same statistic for a lithium ion battery is 3.6 to four volts. That means the scientists still have work to do, but their device might just bring us closer to a world where we don’t need to depend on lithium for energy storage,” reports Inhabitat.
