cheaper energy storage is increasingly becoming  the critical part and limiting factor right now  

lithium-ion is the King of the Hill due to its  relatively low cost and high energy density but  

we can't just rely on one technology to meet  all of our energy needs what if there was a  

battery technology that was cheaper than lithium  ion and didn't use any Metals at all what if we  

could have a battery that used plastic that's a  one company along with a team of MIT researchers  

are exploring in Boston so how does this new  technology stack up to the current battery  

technology will it be the energy storage solution  we've been waiting for what are the pros and cons  

how might it be used and just how far along  are they I'm Ricky and this is Tupa DaVinci  

a typical battery has three main components two  terminals made of different chemicals the anode  

the cathode and a liquid electrolyte between  them primary cells are batteries that can't  

be recharged like the alkaline batteries in your  remote or the aluminum air battery we've covered  

in the past while those have their place for  obvious reasons secondary cells are much more  

interesting because they're you guessed it  rechargeable so good news the plastic polymer  

battery in this video is a rechargeable secondary  cell typically metals like lithium are used in  

the cathode because it's very light and has one  valence electron that is happy to donate other  

metals like nickel and Cobalt are also added for  other characteristics like safety and stability  

graphite is typically used for the anode although  increasingly there is more and more graphene and  

silicon due to its high conductivity and ability  to wedge in and hold lithium ions but the key of  

course is not just finding the materials are the  most conductive or have the highest capacity cost  

is all also a major factor right now lithium is  King because it boasts a high energy density it  

can undergo multiple Chargers and discharge cycles  and it's relatively cost compared to other battery  

chemistries while the energy World wouldn't be  where it is today without lithium ion batteries  

there's a good reason to continue exploring new  battery chemistries mainly because while lithium  

ion battery prices have fallen over the past few  decades recent years have seen a dramatic increase  

in the price of raw lithium and other metals a  lagging indicator of how lithium-on battery prices  

might fare in the future December 2021 solithium  prices leap a jaw-dropping 485 percent year over  

year according to s p Global not to mention the  fact that some of the materials in Lithium-ion  

batteries including Cobalt magnesium and lithium  itself carry some environmental and supply chain  

question marks this wouldn't be such a big deal  20 years ago but if we're planning gigawatt hours  

of grid storage and a billion these the next  few decades this question mark is of the utmost  

importance as a company or technology gets more  mature it's all about better planning predicting  

and forecasting that's why we put so much emphasis  on our production schedule as a company click up  

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is where boston-based energy storage company poly  Jewel comes in this company is pioneering a brand  

new battery technology that doesn't use any  metal at all instead they use something called  

conductive polymers and if you're thinking  wait a minute don't we already have Lithium  

Polymer ion batteries or LiPO batteries yes  but LiPO batteries have a polymer electrolyte  

instead of a liquid electrolyte they still have  metal cathodes and graphite anodes we've covered  

polymers on our channel before they're very  large molecules consisting of many repeating  

subunits basically long chains linked together  essentially it's Plastics I know I know aren't  

we trying to get rid of plastics and now you want  to put them in batteries stick with me we'll dive  

into that in just a little bit but essentially  these properties allow these materials to be  

incredibly strong and conductive which means  they can act like Metals even though they are  

entirely organic based materials there are quite  a few polymers that are electrically conductive  

when linked with conjugated double bonds that run  along their backbone I know that word conjugation  

might give you flashbacks to your high school  Spanish teacher but here it means alternating  

single and double bonds this lets the electrons  become delocalized meaning they can move over the  

whole system and be shared by many atoms novel  research interconductive polymers isn't new in  

fact the Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded to  a group of three researchers for their Discovery  

and development of conductive polymers all the  way back in 2000 so what does this look like in a  

battery and why does it matter polyjule cells are  essentially constructed the same way as any other  

traditional battery but instead of lithium or  Cobalt they use conductive polymers as a cathode  

a carbon graphene hybrid anode and a non-flammable  liquid electrolyte during charging ions are stored  

in the electrode bulk through a feriatic process  known as oxidation essentially really rusting when  

talking about iron during discharging the process  is reversed and the ions are expelled from the  

electrodes through a process called reduction so  what makes this new technology so important well  

compared to lithium ion polyjules batteries have  several advantages for one it works around some of  

the supply chain issues that other batteries face  the materials inside these batteries are far more  

abundant than lithium or Cobalt and can be easily  synthesized with widely available industrial  

chemicals which means no mining because these  batteries don't contain a flammable electrolyte  

or use highly reactive materials like lithium  they can forego temperature management and fire  

suppressant systems that other batteries need to  have or at the very least they require much less  

stuff for thermal and fire management remember  every pound of stuff that's needed for things  

like this is a pound of stuff that adds weight  but not energy storage this factor is huge in the  

energy density of an individual cell versus the  density of an entire pack also they can tolerate  

much colder temp temperatures than lithium-ion  battery scan while on Ev today parked in negative  

30 degrees Celsius climates would have to actively  heat the battery pack and lose range slowly even  

while parked this might not be the case for  the polymer battery because of these features  

polyjule claims that their levelized cost of  energy is about 30 percent less than lithium  

ion with a Target price point at around 65 dollars  per kilowatt hour while this is still quite a bit  

higher than the 20 per kilowatt hour that some  researchers point to as the critical price point  

for energy storage is still significantly less  than lithium ion which hovers between 143 and 250  

dollars per kilowatt hour and polygual batteries  could potentially last longer than lithium on  

batteries currently Lithium-ion batteries have  lifespans of around 15 to 20 years but polyjule  

claims that their technology could nearly double  that with projected lifespans between 20 and 30  

years in the lab polyjules team performed 12  000 charge cycles at a hundred percent and  

depth of discharge so in terms of cost polygual  batteries could be cheaper to build last longer  

and degrade less over time than their competitors  now as we mentioned above the polymers used in  

these batteries are essentially Plastics and of  course we all know plastic is pretty terrible  

for the environment fortunately according to  the company their batteries are 95 recyclable  

and using polymers for these types of batteries  could create a whole new market for recyclable  

materials which could be a major win but there's  little info available on just how much recycled  

Plastics could be put into the batteries so yes  at the end of their life they're recyclable but  

what could we do with the tons of plastic waste  we already have in existence today and what about  

performance polyjule batteries boast power  densities 10 times higher than lithium ion  

remember power density is a measure of power  output per unit volume if electricity is water  

power density is the size of your hose a larger  hose can put up more water at once this was a  

major feature I mentioned in my graphene super  capacitor video the products under development  

can rapidly discharge up to one megawatt hour  in less than 10 seconds then recharge to full  

capacity in under 5 minutes compare that to  a Tesla battery that would require around 30  

minutes or so to reach a level of charge of 80  percent now here's where the reality check comes  

in while these batteries have many advantages  over lithium on batteries like greater power  

density where they simply cannot compete is energy  density the amount of electricity they can hold  

per unit volume remember the water analogy well  if power density is the size of the hose energy  

density is the size of your tank according to  the MIT researchers behind Polo Jules technology  

Lithium-ion batteries have energy densities up  to five times greater than the polymer battery  

under development this means polyjoule would  need a battery five times as big to store the  

same amount of energy so yeah not ideal for say  your phone or laptop but the Abundant safety and  

Longevity might make it an excellent candidate for  stationary grid storage when we report on a new  

battery chemistry or breakthrough the goal isn't  to replace today's lithium on batteries because  

while all this research is going on the lithium  ion battery isn't just standing still today's  

lithium on batteries have less Cobalt than ever  some have none at all plus solid state batteries  

are ever on the horizon this polygel battery  isn't a replacement it's a supplement current  

Tesla powerwalls while beautiful and compact do  use that precious lithium-ion battery material for  

stationary applications for every 5.5 powerwalls  Tesla makes they could make a Long Range model Y  

and while lower energy densities are a no-go for  EVS they might be just fine for home storage would  

you buy a power wall equivalent battery that was  five times as big but lasted two to three times as  

long and cost quite a bit less yeah that's kind  of the question isn't it don't forget they have  

five times the power density which would be great  for power surgers for larger appliances like air  

conditioners and heaters and at grid level they're  hugely benefit special for grid balancing power  

conditioning Peak shaving and more according to  Paula Jewell CEO Eli Pastor in 2021 the ideas  

that we work on in the lab you'll see turned  into products three to four years from now and  

they will still be Innovative and well ahead  of the curve when they get to the market but  

for all we know about polygil and their battery  there's just as much that we don't for example  

efficiency I couldn't find data on this anywhere  this is again where lithium ion Reigns Supreme and  

other batteries we've covered like cryogenic air  or pumped Hydro lags behind based on the fact that  

this data isn't highlighted I'm guessing it's not  as good as lithium ion also nearly all the plastic  

in the world comes from fossil fuel so when it  comes to this battery there's two ways this can go  

this could finally be the solution to the massive  mass of plastic we've made of the past 70 years  

while it was first invented in 1862 by Alexander  parks and showcased at the London International  

exhibition it wouldn't flood Our Lives until the  1950s in 1988 the society for Plastics industry  

established a system for categorizing many  recyclable plastics into groups numbered one  

through seven shown here if the polyjule battery  requires very specific types of plastic then very  

little recycling will be possible but if they  could develop their chemistry to work with a  

wide range of existing plastic this could be  huge there's so little incentive to do the  

right thing in our world recycling is largely  and sadly a sham because it's almost always  

cheaper for companies to just buy new plastic  than to actually buy recycled if we can better  

standardize new plastics for recyclability and  companies like poly Jewel can find novel ways of  

using it for energy storage this could be a game  changer I'm going to try to reach out to polyjule  

for an on-site or interview and if I do I'll make  a follow-up video at this point I have a ton of  

questions but color me intrigued by the way we  talked a little bit about graphene in this video  

but if you want to learn a whole lot more about  this Wonder material check out this video next