Advanced Energy-Storage Research Laboratory
The electrification of automobiles is rapidly moving forward. In just the year 2019 alone, more than two million electric vehicles were sold around the world. The demand for stationary power batteries to store surplus electricity from solar power is growing rapidly, even for use in ordinary households. The batteries used to power electric vehicles are lithium-ion batteries, so there is a growing need for improvements to make them perform better with lower cost.
Through industry-university-government cooperation, the Advanced Energy-Storage Research Laboratory conducts research aimed at developing high-performance, low-cost Li-ion batteries that do not depend on the non-abundant metal elements, like cobalt and nickel, which are used in existing Li-ion batteries. It is also researching new energy storage materials for use in electrochemical capacitors, which make rapid charging and discharging possible. Further still, the Laboratory is conducting research into next-generation energy storage batteries that do not use even lithium. These research activities are carried out with the aim of making our future society a sustainable one.
