Potassium-ion battery has good performance, energy consumption and a fairly long life cycle. This means that the energy storage can be charged and discharged “to zero” many times.
The Group1 company presented a potassium-ion battery in the 18650 format for the first time in the world as part of the Beyond Lithium conference. The new product can become an alternative to lithium-ion analogues , writes Interesting Engineering.
Battery 18650 — this is a cylindrical battery, which is similar in shape to a “finger” (AA), but has a voltage of 3.7 V at the output, and its volume is from 1600 to 3600 mAh. The numbers indicate the size: diameter 18 mm and length 65 mm.
For the first time in the world, Group1 made a potassium-ion battery of this format, where the function of the charge carrier is performed by potassium ions. The 18650 form factor makes the battery compatible with a large number of modern gadgets. The developers are sure that this will make it popular. Such batteries are now used in many devices, for example, in electronic cigarettes, laptops, power banks and even cars, for a larger capacity, several pieces are combined into so-called “assemblies” by welding special jumpers.
Potassium ion Group1 batteries should replace expensive lithium-ion batteries, they have good performance, energy consumption and a fairly long life cycle. This means that the energy storage can be fully charged and discharged “to zero” many times — an extremely important characteristic when using batteries to power, for example, electric cars.
The battery from Group1 can be used for other equipment as it works at a voltage of 3.7 V. Its gravimetric energy density is within 160-180 W*h/kg, as in lithium-iron-phosphate analogs. Such a high storage density indicates that the device can store a large amount of energy in relation to its own mass. In other words, the potassium-ion battery will be very appropriate in such energy-intensive applications as electric cars and electronics.