Lithium is one of the most coveted raw materials. And it is because this chemical element is one of the fundamental ingredients in the batteries of our smartphones, laptops or electric cars, among many other devices. Its global production has quadrupled since 2010, and even so, today it is the most sought-after raw material on the entire planet. In fact, during 2022 its price increased by no less than 900%.

Unfortunately this chemical element is being controlled by very few countries. Australia, Chile and China lead their production followed at some distance by Argentina, Brazil, Zimbabwe, the United States and Portugal. However, this is not the only 'but' we can say about lithium; It is also important that we do not overlook that its extraction has a profound environmental impact, and also that it takes several hundred thousand years to degrade once it has been processed and is no longer used.

In addition, the processes that must be subjected to during the manufacturing of batteries require the use of a large amount of water and energy. And, as a tip, when their useful life ends, lithium batteries are difficult to recycle.

In these circumstances it is evident that we need alternatives that are more economical, and, above all, more respectful of the environment.

Lithium-ion batteries and solid-state batteries have a lot in common. In fact, the latter are an evolution of the former, which use a technology that barely leaves us room to continue developing its features.

Solid-state batteries use the same operating principle as lithium-ion batteries, but they only use a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid one.

Some research teams have been working on this battery technology for decades and have proposed electrolytes made of ceramic, glass or nanowires of gold and manganese, among other exotic materials, but so far no one has been successful because, among other challenges, the resulting batteries have to be very stable and not run the risk of catching fire.

These are the main strengths that this battery technology has:

Its energy density is significantly higher than that offered by lithium-ion batteries. The solid-state ones are close to 500 Wh/kg, while the lithium-ion ones are below 300 Wh/kg.

The increase in energy density should have a direct impact on the autonomy of electric vehicles
Battery charging will be much faster.

According to some companies, in just 15 minutes it will be possible to bring a completely discharged battery to 80% of the total charge.
Its useful life will be longer thanks to the elimination of capacity loss caused by anode degradation.

Solid-state batteries should be more stable and safer than lithium-ion batteries because the solid separator elements cannot combust.

Their production will be cheaper and they will have less impact on the final price of electric cars.

Some companies already have solid-state designs in a very advanced stage of development, but most of them face the same problem: scaling their technology.

And they have to transfer the innovations that have been shown to work well in solid-state cells produced in a laboratory to multilayer batteries that are going to be mass-produced and used in a real use scenario.