Glass batteries discovered

The inventor of the lithium-ion battery, the 94-year-old John Goodenough, has made an important new discovery – a glass battery, which addresses the problem of storing electrical energy.

Goodenough’s new invention has attracted attention from technology sector giants, Bloomberg reports.

Alphabet Inc.’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said via Twitter that Goodenough has developed the first all-solid-state battery cells.

Goodenough claims that the new battery cells have three times as much energy density as today’s lithium-ion batteries.

The new, more powerful generation of batteries may be made entirely of glass, as reported by Goodenough and his team. They can store and transmit energy at temperatures lower than lithium-ion batteries and can be made using sodium, the global supplies of which are abundant, Bloomerg reports.

Goodenough and his team say that this is “a safe, low-cost all-solid-state cell with a huge capacity giving a large energy density and a long cycle life suitable for powering an all-electric road vehicle or for storing electric power from wind or solar energy”.

The researchers are working on several patents and are looking for partners among battery producers, although experts claim that the road from the laboratory to the factory is a long one.

It took 11 years for Goodenough’s lithium-ion batteries to start being commercially used in 1991.

– We believe our discovery solves many of the problems that are inherent in today’s batteries – Goodenough said in his statement.

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