Batteries News

May 23, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Just Found a Faster, Cleaner Way to Extract Lithium for EV Batteries

May 23, 2026 A breakthrough lithium-extraction method could help solve one of clean energy’s dirtiest problems. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a fast new technique that pulls lithium ...

Ordinary WiFi Can Now Identify People with Near Perfect Accuracy

May 22, 2026 Scientists in Germany have demonstrated a startling new form of surveillance: identifying people using nothing more than ordinary WiFi signals. By analyzing how radio waves bounce around a room, researchers can effectively “see” and recognize ...

NASA Just Tested a Powerful New Thruster That Could Send Humans to Mars

May 6, 2026 A powerful new electromagnetic thruster has taken a major step forward after a successful high-energy test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fueled by lithium vapor and driven by intense magnetic forces, the experimental engine reached ...

Scientists Develop Dirt-powered Fuel Cell That Could Replace Batteries

Apr. 19, 2026 Scientists have developed a fuel cell that uses microbes in soil to produce electricity. The device can power underground sensors for tasks like monitoring moisture or detecting touch, without needing batteries or solar panels. It works in both dry ...

This Chain of Atoms Can Detect Electric Fields with Stunning Precision

Apr. 17, 2026 A new quantum sensing approach could dramatically improve how scientists measure low-frequency electric fields, a task that has long been limited by bulky setups and blurry resolution. Instead of relying on traditional vapor-cell methods, ...

Fool’s Gold Isn’t so Foolish: Scientists Find Hidden Treasure in Pyrite

Apr. 16, 2026 Researchers have discovered lithium hidden in pyrite within ancient shale rocks—an unexpected find that could reshape how we source this critical battery material. It raises the possibility of extracting lithium from existing waste, reducing the ...

This New Chip Could Slash Data Center Energy Waste

Apr. 10, 2026 A new chip design from UC San Diego could make data centers far more energy-efficient by rethinking how power is converted for GPUs. By combining vibrating piezoelectric components with a clever circuit layout, the system overcomes limitations of ...

Scientists Built a Quantum Battery That Breaks the Rules of Charging

Apr. 4, 2026 Scientists have taken a major step toward futuristic energy tech by building a working prototype of a quantum battery—one that can charge, store, and release energy using the strange rules of quantum physics instead of chemistry. This tiny, ...

World’s First Quantum Battery Could Enable Ultra Fast Charging

Mar. 22, 2026 Scientists in Australia have demonstrated a prototype quantum battery that could revolutionize energy storage. By harnessing quantum effects, it can absorb energy in a rapid “super absorption” event, enabling much faster charging than ...

Scientists Create Slippery Nanopores That Supercharge Blue Energy

Mar. 9, 2026 Scientists have found a way to significantly boost “blue energy,” which generates electricity from the mixing of saltwater and freshwater. By coating nanopores with lipid molecules that create a friction-reducing water layer, they enabled ions ...

AI Discovers the Hidden Signal of Liquid-like Ion Flow in Solid-state Batteries

Mar. 7, 2026 Solid-state batteries could be safer and more energy-dense than today’s lithium-ion technology, but finding materials that allow ions to move quickly through solid electrolytes has been difficult. ...

Oxford Breakthrough Could Make Lithium-ion Batteries Charge Faster and Last Much Longer

Feb. 20, 2026 Oxford researchers have found a way to visualize one of the most hidden — yet critical — components inside lithium-ion batteries. By tagging polymer binders with traceable markers, they revealed ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:55am EDT

New Sodium Ion Battery Stores Twice the Energy and Desalinates Seawater

Feb. 19, 2026 A surprising breakthrough could help sodium-ion batteries rival lithium—and even turn seawater into drinking water. Scientists discovered that keeping water inside a key battery material, instead ...

New Calcium-Ion Battery Design Delivers High Performance Without Lithium

Feb. 13, 2026 Scientists at HKUST have unveiled a major leap forward in calcium-ion battery technology, potentially opening the door to safer, more sustainable energy storage for everything from renewable power ...

This Paper-Thin Chip Turns Invisible Light Into a Steerable Beam

Feb. 5, 2026 Researchers have built a paper-thin chip that converts infrared light into visible light and directs it precisely, all without mechanical motion. The design overcomes a long-standing ...

A New Way to Control Light Could Boost Future Wireless Tech

Feb. 4, 2026 A new optical device allows researchers to generate and switch between two stable, donut-shaped light patterns called skyrmions. These light vortices hold their shape even when disturbed, making them ...

Electric Fields Flip the Rules of Water Chemistry

Jan. 31, 2026 nside electrochemical devices, strong electric fields dramatically alter how water molecules behave. New research shows that these fields speed up water dissociation not by lowering energy costs, but ...

This Tiny Power Module Could Change How the World Uses Energy

Jan. 19, 2026 As global energy demand surges—driven by AI-hungry data centers, advanced manufacturing, and electrified transportation—researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have unveiled a ...

Silver Just Solved a Major Solid-State Battery Problem

Jan. 18, 2026 Solid-state batteries could store more energy and charge faster than today’s batteries, but they tend to crack and fail over time. Stanford researchers found that a nanoscale silver treatment can ...

Engineers Just Created a “phonon Laser” That Could Shrink Your Next Smartphone

Jan. 17, 2026 Engineers have created a device that generates incredibly tiny, earthquake-like vibrations on a microchip—and it could transform future ...

This Simple Design Change Could Finally Fix Solid-State Batteries

Jan. 9, 2026 Scientists in South Korea have discovered a way to make all-solid-state batteries safer and more powerful using inexpensive materials. Instead of adding costly metals, they redesigned the battery’s ...

Tiny 3D-Printed Light Cages Could Unlock the Quantum Internet

Jan. 6, 2026 A new chip-based quantum memory uses nanoprinted “light cages” to trap light inside atomic vapor, enabling fast, reliable storage of quantum information. The structures can be fabricated with ...

This Tiny Chemistry Change Makes Flow Batteries Last Far Longer

Jan. 1, 2026 A new advance in bromine-based flow batteries could remove one of the biggest obstacles to long-lasting, affordable energy storage. Scientists developed a way to chemically capture corrosive bromine ...

This Hidden Flaw Has Been Breaking EV Batteries

Dec. 29, 2025 A major breakthrough in battery science reveals why promising single-crystal lithium-ion batteries haven’t lived up to expectations. Researchers found that these batteries crack due to uneven ...

Breakthrough Links Magnetism and Electricity for Faster Tech

Nov. 5, 2025 Engineers at the University of Delaware have uncovered a way to bridge magnetism and electricity through magnons—tiny waves that carry information without electrical current. These magnetic waves ...

Scientists Accidentally Create a Tiny “rainbow Chip” That Could Supercharge the Internet

Oct. 7, 2025 Researchers at Columbia have created a chip that turns a single laser into a “frequency comb,” producing dozens of powerful light channels at once. Using a special locking mechanism to clean ...

When Sunshine Became Cheaper Than Coal

Oct. 7, 2025 Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power worldwide, driving a massive shift toward renewables. Falling battery prices and innovations in solar materials are making clean energy more reliable ...

Cheaper Than Lithium, Just as Powerful — Sodium Batteries Are Finally Catching Up

Oct. 17, 2025 Researchers discovered how to stabilize a high-performance sodium compound, giving sodium-based solid-state batteries the power and stability they’ve long lacked. The new material conducts ions far ...

Light-Powered Chip Makes AI 100 Times More Efficient

Sep. 9, 2025 Artificial intelligence is consuming enormous amounts of energy, but researchers at the University of Florida have built a chip that could change everything by using light instead of electricity for ...

A Tiny Chip May Have Solved One of Clean Energy’s Biggest Problems

Aug. 28, 2025 In just one afternoon, scientists used a nanoparticle “megalibrary” to find a catalyst that matches or exceeds iridium’s performance in hydrogen fuel production, at a fraction of the ...

Why Recycling ‘dead’ Batteries Could Save Billions and Slash Pollution

Aug. 19, 2025 Lithium battery recycling offers a powerful solution to rising demand, with discarded batteries still holding most of their valuable materials. Compared to mining, recycling slashes emissions and ...

New Low Temperature Fuel Cell Could Transform Hydrogen Power

Dec. 5, 2025 Kyushu University scientists have achieved a major leap in fuel cell technology by enabling efficient proton transport at just 300°C. Their scandium-doped oxide materials create a wide, soft pathway ...

Room-Temperature Quantum Breakthrough Freezes Motion Without Cooling

Aug. 18, 2025 ETH Zurich scientists have levitated a tower of three nano glass spheres using optical tweezers, suppressing almost all classical motion to observe quantum zero-point fluctuations with unprecedented ...

AI Just Found 5 Powerful Materials That Could Replace Lithium Batteries

Aug. 2, 2025 AI is helping scientists crack the code on next-gen batteries that could replace lithium-ion tech. By discovering novel porous materials, researchers may have paved the way for more powerful and ...

Scientists Discover Salt That Makes Batteries Last 10x Longer

July 27, 2025 A team at KAUST has revealed that the short lifespan of aqueous batteries is primarily due to "free water" molecules triggering harmful chemical reactions at the anode. By adding affordable ...

You Hear the Beep, but Can’t Find the Car: The Hidden Flaw in Electric Vehicle Safety

June 18, 2025 As electric vehicles grow more popular, their warning sounds may not be doing enough to protect pedestrians. A Swedish study shows that these signals are hard to locate, especially when multiple ...

Saving Energy: New Method Guides Magnetism Without Magnets

June 17, 2025 In a leap toward greener tech, researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have discovered a way to control magnetic textures using electric fields no bulky magnets needed. Their star material? A ...

Japanese Scientists Unveil a Quantum Battery That Defies Energy Loss

Oct. 24, 2025 A team of researchers has designed a theoretical model for a topological quantum battery capable of long-distance energy transfer and immunity to dissipation. By exploiting topological properties in ...

Discovery Could Boost Solid-State Battery Performance

June 2, 2025 Researchers have discovered that the mixing of small particles between two solid electrolytes can generate an effect called a 'space charge layer,' an accumulation of electric charge at the ...

Listening to Electrons Talk

May 29, 2025 Researchers present new experimental and theoretical results for the bound electron g-factor in lithium-like tin which has a much higher nuclear charge than any previous measurement. The experimental ...

EV Battery Recycling Key to Future Lithium Supplies

May 29, 2025 Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries are crucial for the transition to electric vehicles, and global demand for lithium is set to grow rapidly over the next 25 years. A new analysis looks at ...

Electric Buses Struggle in the Cold, Researchers Find

May 28, 2025 Researchers have released new insights on a pilot program involving all-electric buses in Ithaca, NY, USA -- with implications for cities, schools and other groups that are considering the ...