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A new zinc-based battery has been tested, and it officially can do 40,000 cycles before it gets to below 70% battery degradation. That's the equivalent of 12.4 million miles of driving. 12.4 million, or 20 million kilometers. This is crazy.
I mean, I've been talking about sodium batteries being the future, and they certainly are, but um, we might have some alternatives potentially. Now, this is um, not purely a theoretical battery either. This is the really interesting thing about this story. A new battery achieves 40,000 cycle lifespan with 93% battery retention left. So, after 40,000 cycles, it still has 93% battery retention left. In other words, we don't know if this battery could last for 30 million miles. We don't know. It potentially could. This battery could last for so long. I think that it would outlast the life of even children who are born today based on its theoretical potential. Sort of sounds, even saying that sounds wild, but it's actually true.
So, what is it made of? Well, it's got a 3D polymer-based zinc organic battery. And here's the thing. Organic batteries have long been considered the holy grail of sustainable energy storage because they're lightweight, recyclable, free from toxic metals, and they are actually really good, except for one problem. They've always fallen short in terms of power and stability. Energy density hasn't been good enough. That's been the biggest problem with these organic batteries. Not anymore.
In fact, the energy density of these batteries, you'd think, right, 40,000 cycles, 93% battery retention after that long, there must be some trade-off. But, um, there actually isn't. The energy density is up there with Julie's golden brick battery. It's 193 Wh/kg to be exact. 192.5 Wh/kg, which is actually quite good energy density. To give some context, build blade battery is at about 165 Wh/kg.
A research team from China and Singapore have built an organic polymer battery that rewrites the limits of battery history. This is the longest-lasting battery ever. In a world chasing safer, greener power sources, this zinc organic battery is, to be honest, revolutionary. It uses a new 3D polymer framework. The researchers say that they overcame the solubility and conductivity issues that have plagued organic cathodes for decades. The result, a battery that not only lasts but performs like we've never seen before.
The study, led by scientists from Nanjing University of Post and Telecommunications, the National University of Singapore, the Suzu Institute of Nanotech and Nanobionics, and AAR, unveiled a hexaas a triphenoline-based polymer called HAT TP, and it delivers an initial discharge voltage of 1.32 volts and retains 93.4% of its capacity after 40,000 cycles. Now, I should mention this is not in an electric car, so we're not at that stage yet. It's still a few years away. But this achievement is, well, as far as I can tell, makes it the most durable battery we've ever seen, particularly for an aqueous zinc organic battery.
The team actually created the HAT TP polymer by coupling hexahexa aotrin phitylene or HAT CN and hexaaminotoyine into a 3D framework. This is some hard words to say. This architecture suppresses solubility and increases the number of electroactive sites available for ion coordination. Now, apparently, its porous 3D structure actually is the key to its remarkable electrochemical performance. Electrochemical testing revealed an initial discharge voltage of 1.32 volts and a midpoint of 1.17 volts, significantly higher than conventional organic cathodes. The HAT TP battery not only delivered high voltage but also it demonstrated incredible stability, retaining more than 93% capacity after 40,000 cycles. In situ analyses and density functional theory simulations revealed that the battery operates via a reversible co-insertion mechanism, enabling a five-electron transfer process for high redox activity.
Now, what does this all mean? Well, the team said this: "Our work demonstrates that 3D molecular polymerization is a powerful strategy to overcome long-standing barriers in zinc organic batteries." So, what does this all mean? Well, with its long lifespan, its very high energy density for an organic battery, and near-perfect efficiency, this battery could make large-scale energy storage safer and more sustainable. And it could be a real option to sodium batteries.
Now, we know that sodium batteries can last for a very long time, and they last longer than lithium phosphate. Um, for example, CL's new NERA battery, they said that that will last for approximately 5 million km before it even hits 70% battery degradation. That will last for more than 5 million km before it even hits 70% battery degradation.
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But this is an entirely different stratosphere and it could potentially far outlast sodium batteries. In addition to that, its combination of high voltage stability and its recyclability positions it as a strong contender for grid storage as well as for wearable electronics. In other words, we could have batteries in our phones and watches and other things that just never die in future. Um, never, the batteries never degrade, which would be amazing.
If you're new, relatively new to the battery space, or even if you're not, zinc organic batteries are rechargeable batteries that use zinc as the metal anode and an organic or carbon-based material as the cathode. Instead of relying on metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc., they use abundant, low-toxicity materials. So, the key advantages of zinc, zinc batteries are that they are non-flammable and very, very safe and stable. The materials are cheap. Zinc and organics are low-cost and they're widely available. Kind of similar to sodium batteries in that regard. They're also environmentally friendly. There are no rare or toxic metals. Recyclability is high. So, yes, you can recycle these batteries. And you can potentially also charge them very quickly, although we don't know how quickly you could charge them in, say, an electric car.
But obviously, the main market that the researchers here are going after is energy storage. They're going after, you know, solar and wind backup, home batteries, data centers, and microgrids. And that's probably the ideal scenario here for a battery that can last. I mean, realistically, putting a battery like this in an EV is really kind of overkill. No one's ever going to drive for 40 million miles in an electric car, right? So, energy storage is the key here. Being able to use these batteries every single day, constantly on the grid, and have them basically support a grid potentially for the next hundred years. This is the kind of solution that I think really puts a dent in fossil fuels. This is the end of even nuclear power can't possibly compete with this. Even in countries where there's not a, not as much solar energy, it's still going to be far cheaper to get to have solar and batteries like this, potentially sodium batteries as well, because of the incredible longevity. I mean, these batteries would outlast a nuclear power plant by a factor of five at an absolute minimum.
So, this is revolutionary, and I can see these batteries being more important than, I'd say, 95% of the other batteries that I've discussed on this channel. Really, now we're looking at solid-state, zinc aqueous organic batteries, sodium batteries, and lithium-ion phosphate as really being the four key battery technologies I think going into the future. Do you guys agree with me? Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for watching. [Music]