A new design for the cathodes of magnesium batteries could offer a safer power source with higher storage capacity. The design rejects conventional ideas of breaking the magnesium-chloride bond, instead inserting magnesium monochloride into a host and keeping the bond intact. In this study, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated that they can use an alternative approach to break the magnesium chloride. Unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries, magnesium batteries are not flammable or subject to exploding.
A new design for the cathodes of magnesium batteries could offer a safer power source with higher storage capacity. The design rejects conventional ideas of breaking the magnesium-chloride bond, instead inserting magnesium monochloride into a host and keeping the bond intact. That increases storage capacity to 400 mAh/g, four times that of its predecessors, but still only provides one volt in comparison to the three to four volts provided by lithium-ion batteries. Unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries, magnesium batteries are not flammable or subject to exploding.