“Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd has developed a porous aluminum called ‘Aluminum-Celmet,’” Atsushi Takano and Nikkei Monozukuri report for Tech-On.

“Currently, the positive electrode and negative electrode current collectors of Li-ion rechargeable batteries are often made from aluminum (Al) foil and copper (Cu) foil, respectively,” Takano and Monozukuri report. “By replacing the Al foil with the Aluminum-Celmet, it is possible to increase the amount of positive active material per unit area, enhancing battery capacity by 1.5 to 3 times (in the case of automotive batteries). And if the battery capacity does not change, the volume of the battery can be reduced to 1/3 to 2/3.”

Takano and Monozukuri report, “Because the Aluminum-Celmet has a high corrosion resistance, it can be applied to Li-ion rechargeable batteries and capacitors, which have higher charge/discharge voltages than NiMH rechargeable batteries.”

Read more in the full article here.