The element responsible for the smell of rotten eggs could play a major role in next-generation batteries.
A team of researchers has come up with a surprising new addition to the potential list of ingredients that could go in the batteries that could power next-generation portable devices like smartphones and laptops – sulfur, the active element that, when combined with hydrogen, gives rotten eggs their unique, hair-raising stench. More specifically, the team from Monash University in Australia, led by Professor Matthew Hill, Dr Mahdokht Shaibani and Professor Mainak Majumber, developed a new lithium-sulfur battery interlay that enables fast lithium transfer while improving the performance and longevity of the new batteries. That translates into portable batteries that could be cheaper to run, cleaner and faster.
