Alternatives to Cobalt, the Blood Diamond of Batteries

When John Goodenough created the first lithium-ion rechargeable battery at Oxford in 1980, he needed some cobalt. Experiments had already established that the metal is energy-dense, perfect for small batteries that need a lot of power.1 So Goodenough made the cobalt himself, heating the precursors at very high temperatures. Today, cobalt appears in most commercial …

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