The organic electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries are flammable and can easily cause fire accidents. People have been working on water-based electrolytes as safer alternatives.

Recently, according to media reports, research teams such as Yokohama National University and Sumitomo Electric Industries have successfully used water instead of flammable organic solvents to develop a new type of lithium-ion battery with higher safety.

Although the new battery is slightly inferior to conventional batteries in terms of power storage performance, it can eliminate fire hazards and achieve fast charging. The research team members hope to realize the commercialization of the battery within three years.

Lithium-ion batteries use flammable organic solvents as their electrolytes, commonly used in smartphones and electric vehicles. To eliminate the risk of fire, the researchers experimented with water as the electrolyte and searched for new electrode materials to ensure that the battery's performance would not degrade significantly.

The experimental results show that the battery with molybdenum oxide as the negative electrode is practical. In addition to greatly increasing the safety, the new battery can also achieve fast charging. After charging 2000 times, its capacity only drops by less than 30%.

Because water is electrolyzed at high pressure, the new battery can only be used at low pressure, unlike conventional batteries that use organic solutions as electrolytes. The energy density of the battery is about half that of conventional batteries, which means that the new batteries need to be larger in size to match the capacity of conventional batteries.

Even so, due to its high safety and durability, it can be widely used in solar energy, wind power storage batteries, and short-distance electric vehicles in the future.