Magnesium batteries could be a thing

When I was a kid the hottest thing you could get for your bike were "Mag Wheels".  They only had 5 spokes and looks pretty darn cool and have largely been replaced by plastic versions that look similar.  Magnesium wheels or "Mags" were also hot on cars too though they quickly fell out of popularity due to safety and price concerns.  You see, Magnesium burns and becomes brittle over time due to how they were cast. 

Well, it would seem there are other uses for Magnesium and some researchers are looking to it as a safer and more powerful alternative to lithium.

It's still early days for the promise of safer, energy-dense solid-state rechargeable batteries. However, a team of scientists at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research have just discovered a fast magnesium-ion solid-state conductor that will go a long way towards making non-flammable batteries with more capacity.

I find it interesting that it took "this" (I'm holding up a unit of measure) long for researchers to discover their fast magnesium-ion solid-state conductor and figure out how to turn it into a battery.  Then again that was the premise of Iron Man 2 and just look what Tony Stark was able to accomplish.

Of course, all joking aside, safer batteries are a good thing for everyone and will help pave the way to our electrical future. 

Related Web URL: https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/01/magnesium-batt...