Last month, researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland announced their efforts to develop a rechargeable lithium-air battery that could deliver a 10x increase in energy capacity compared to that of currently available lithium-ion cells. Research has included investigating the materials issues associated with a non-aqueous O2 electrode. (Keeping the water out while letting in oxygen from the air is tricky but necessary because of lithium's violent reaction with water.)

"The key is to use oxygen in the air as a re-agent, rather than carry the necessary chemicals around inside the battery. says Professor Peter Bruce of the Chemistry Department at the University of St Andrews, principal investigator." [via Green Car Congress.]

Now, IBM Research has announced that its Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA will partner with Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Argonne, and Pacific Northwest national labs develop lithium air batteries.

“IBM is pursuing the risky technology instead of lithium-ion batteries because it has the potential to reach high enough energy densities to change the transportation system, says Chandrasekhar Narayan, manager of science and technology at IBM's Almaden Research Center, in San Jose, CA. "With all foreseeable developments, lithium-ion batteries are only going to get about two times better than they are today," he says. "To really make an impact on transportation and on the grid, you need higher energy density than that."

Photo credit: Dobley et al. Non-aqueous Lithium-Air Batteries with an Advanced Cathode Structure