lithium

We have solved the problem of space junk by burning it. A SpaceX lithium trail just proved to be a terrible idea

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For decades, the aerospace industry has had a consensus solution to the problem of space junk: burn it. A fairly simple phenomenon that is based on the satellite reentry when it ends its useful life in the atmosphere so that it begins to suffer friction and completely disintegrates. But the reality is that we are facing a huge problemsince physics reminds us that matter is neither created nor destroyed. We have captured him. Science is realizing that we are not removing space junk, we are just vaporizing it into metallic aerosols that are changing the chemistry of our own sky. And the definitive clue to this problem was found on the night of February 19, 2025where a team of German researchers pointed a laser into the sky over Kühlungsborn. What they detected in this case at about 100 kilometers altitude, in the thermosphere, was something that should not be there, since there were large amounts of lithium. And it wasn’t there for no reason, since it just coincided hours before with the re-entry of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which had disintegrated over the Atlantic between Ireland and the United Kingdom. Something new. The signal measured in this case was not very subtle, since was 10 times bigger to the usual concentration in that region, and this finding was collected in an article because it marks a great milestone: it is the first time that the metallic contamination released from a specific piece of space junk at the exact moment of burning has been observed “live” and from Earth. The metallic iceberg. The incident with this Falcon is not something isolated in our society, but is a symptom of the structural change we are experiencing. In 2023, a team of researchers already used different devices to be able analyze more than 50,000 aerosol particles in the stratospherewhich is the layer where our ozone layer resides, at about 15-30 km altitude. What did they see? Historically, the metals found in the stratosphere came from meteorites that entered our planet. But today it is estimated that 210 tons of aluminum per year in the atmosphere comes from the disintegration of satellites and rockets, compared to the 20 tons per year that vaporize naturally from meteors. But lithium is not the only metal in the atmosphere of our planet, since scientists have detected more than twenty elements, among which aluminum, copper, lead or silver stand out… This is something that does not fit with the normal composition of meteorites, but it does coincide with the materials that different aerospace companies use to create their rockets and satellites. There is no planning. The pace of launches has skyrocketed in recent years, and if today we are close to 10,000 objects orbiting the Earth, we have to know that only Starlink aspires to have more than 40,000 satellites in Earth orbit low. But the problem is that the useful life of these devices is short, so their inevitable fate is to end up vaporized over our heads. Its effects. Science here is quite clear that the effects of filling the stratosphere with these metals are currently unknown. But the projections suggest that we should not be calm because elements such as aluminum and copper are important catabolizers that can affect the delicate ozone layer. In addition to this, metallic particles can act as special condensation nuclei, altering the microphysics of polar stratospheric clouds. And if that were not enough, adding anthropogenic material to sulfuric acid aerosols changes their size and ability to scatter sunlight. Ironically, we are altering the reflectivity of the stratosphere, the same layer that some scientists want to use for climate geoengineering, without knowing what the consequences will be. The planetary limit. The models here suggest that, if the planned megaconstellations materialize, the fraction of stratospheric particles contaminated with aluminum from satellites will rise from the current 10% to around 50%. In other words, the load of metals in the stratosphere could grow by around 40% compared to natural levels. Here for years space agencies have assumed that disintegrating satellites was a completely harmless and clean practice. The example of the Falcon 9, which has validated the warnings of the scientific community, shows us that the Earth’s orbit and our atmosphere make up a connected ecosystem. In this way, launching tens of thousands of objects into space and then burning them on our own roof may be a solution to keep space clean, but we are dirtying the sky in return. In Xataka | Spain and Portugal have joined forces to launch satellites with a mission: to monitor catastrophes in real time

The United Kingdom has found lithium under its feet, but extracting it is going to be a billion-dollar logistical nightmare

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For vacationers visiting cornwallin the south-west of the United Kingdom, the landscape is a haven of peace dotted with historical remains. It is the land of the old tin and copper mines that inspired series like Poldarka region with more than 4,000 years of mining history. However, beneath this postcard scenario lies the most coveted resource of the 21st century. The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson baptized it in 2021 as the “Lithium Klondike”, in reference to the historic gold rush. Today, As detailed in an extensive report by Guardianthat “white gold” is the great hope for the British energy transition. The race for the first drop of lithium. The sector has recently reached milestones that seemed impossible a decade ago. On the one hand, as reported Financial TimesCornish Lithium company has just commissioned its first commercial demonstration plant in the region. This facility is designed to extract lithium from hard rock in former clay (kaolin) mines, a crucial step that demonstrates that large-scale domestic mining is technically feasible. Crushing stone is not the only way. In parallel, a fascinating technology has emerged that unites mining and renewable energy. It turns out that, several kilometers deep, the superheated water flowing through the fractures of the granite of cornwall It is loaded with dissolved lithium. As explained by BBCTaking advantage of this has enabled a historic milestone: the United Downs power plant, operated by Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), has become the first in the country to generate electricity from the Earth’s heat, while producing the first domestic supply of lithium extracted from these underground fluids. The mechanics, as detailed Guardianis ingenious: the boiling brine is pumped (at about 200 °C), its heat is used to drive turbines that generate electricity, the lithium is chemically extracted and the cold water is returned to the subsoil. The initial figures for this project are modest—just 100 tons of lithium per year, enough for 1,400 electric cars—but the goal is to scale up to 18,000 tons per year. What does it really mean to unearth this treasure?? As emphasized Financial Timesthe primary motivation is geostrategic: the West desperately needs to reduce its dependence on China in the critical metals supply chain. Additionally, unlike wind or solar energy, geothermal brine provides renewable electricity “24 hours a day, 7 days a week”, shielding the network against the vagaries of gas. An abyss riddled with obstacles. But from the laboratory to the commercial mine there is a stretch full of barriers. First, drilling wells kilometers deep or building processing plants requires massive injections of capital. The GEL project has already cost 50 million pounds, inform BBC. Furthermore, the market is ruthless: recently, the Imerys British Lithium (IBL) side project, which promised to create the largest lithium hub in the country, has had to be halted due to “funding constraints and difficult market conditions.” The second major obstacle is the emotional shock with the population. A report from a few months ago in The Conversation perfectly illustrates this drama in the village of St Dennis. For Cornish Lithium to expand its open-pit mine at the former Trelavour quarry, it needs to demolish huge conical mountains of clay waste. The problem is that the locals have affectionately named them Flatty and Pointy. What for the mining company is debris that blocks lithium, for the people it is their heritage, their visual identity since the 19th century. It is the bitter dilemma of the green transition: sacrificing the local landscape to save the global climate. The Spanish mirror. This tension between national urgency and local rejection resonates strongly in Spain. As we have explained in Xatakathe European Union has launched a lifeline of 22,000 million euros to support 47 strategic mining projects and stop the bleeding of foreign dependence. Seven of them are on Spanish soil, with three standing out in Extremadura: the Aguablanca mine (the only nickel deposit in Europe, which reopens after a decade) and the tungsten mines of Las Navas and La Parrilla. However, the syndrome NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) hits just as it does on British soil. The same publication recalls that the emblematic and controversial Cáceres lithium mine has been left out of European aid due to the fierce opposition of neighborhood and environmental platforms, a social pressure that has already managed to knock down similar projects in Ávila. The shadow of the dragon: the clock is ticking. While Europe deals with waste dumps and bureaucracy, China competes in another league. Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned to launch An operational mine takes an average of 17 years. The West is running against the clock, and Beijing is two decades ahead of us. And the data is suffocating. China processes 80% of the world’s lithium and 95% of graphite. For years, they sold batteries below production cost, taking losses to exterminate Western competition and establish silent dependence. Far from relaxing, the Asian giant keep devouring the subsoil: it has recently tripled its lithium reserves (going from 6% to 16.5% worldwide) thanks to new discoveries in its salt lakes. And the problem is not just “white gold.” The IEA alert that by 2035 there will be a 30% supply deficit in copper. Without copper for the cables, having batteries will be useless. The true cost of the transition. The UK’s mining awakening is the perfect microcosm of the challenge facing the West. We have discovered that we have the treasure under our feet, but geology is only the starting line. “White gold” requires colossal sacrifices. It requires risking billions in unstable markets, altering places that communities love and facing a very slow bureaucracy in the face of an implacable Asian rival. The batteries that will power the 21st century are not only going to cost us money; They will require profound social wear and tear. Lithium promises us the future, but unearthing it is going to be a real nightmare. Image | Cornish Lithium Xataka | China sold cheap batteries … Read more

The big problem with lithium ion batteries is their degradation over time. A chemical adjustment can change it

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It doesn’t matter if it’s a mobile phone, a laptop, the Nintendo Switch or a Dyson: as you use it, the battery life will reduce. Yes, lithium ion batteries they have changed the world and for years they have been the absolute standard in consumer electronics, but degradation over time is their endemic evil. While we look for alternatives To this technology, a research team has found a promising solution in a seemingly simple chemical tweak. The advance. The main idea of ​​this research is not to change the main materials of the battery, but simply to add a small amount of an additive: lithium difluorophosphate. Its existence is not new, but this research led by Professor Chunsheng Wang of the University of Maryland reveals how effective it is in stabilizing batteries. Why is it important. Because lithium ion batteries are present everywhere and this modification would extend their useful life using standard, low-cost chemistry. The result of their experiment is that with this additive, batteries can be optimized to maximize power and energy, or to achieve greater useful life and stability. For practical purposes, the study shows how with this adjustment they maintained a significantly higher capacity after hundreds of charge and discharge cycles. As Wang explains.“It is a relatively simple modification of current batteries.” Or what is the same, after having run security tests and long cycles, “it could realistically reach consumers.” Brief notes on the mechanism of a battery. Lithium ion batteries are made up of a negative anode and a positive cathode and have a porous separator between the two. The assembly is immersed in an electrolyte whose mission is to allow lithium ions to move between electrodes during charging and discharging. With the discharge, the anode releases electrons to the electrical circuit (gives electricity to the device) and ions to the electrolyte, meeting again at the cathode. Upon charging, an external source (the charger) reverses the process by “pumping” the ions back to the anode to store the energy in the chemical structure. The degradation of its capacity with use occurs due to the irreversible loss of lithium in secondary chemical reactions and due to mechanical fatigue of the electrodes. Basic diagram of the operation of a lithium ion battery. Walter Davison. Via: Wikimedia In detail. If we delve a little deeper into the previous explanation, the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) appears, a thin layer that forms on the anode during the first charges. In standard batteries, this layer is fragile and breaks down with use, consuming lithium and reducing battery life. Through a simple reaction inspired by organic chemistry, this additive makes the electrolyte more prone to accepting electrons, making degradation more controlled. In short, it helps to form a more robust, elastic and uniform SEI, thus acting as a kind of shield that prevents the electrolyte from reacting parasitically with the electrodes. In addition, it is a flexible chemistry that can be adjusted to be more or less protective and the presence of the additive minimizes the presence of cracks in the cathode. In Xataka | They have found a way to turn tall buildings into batteries. And that makes Benidorm our best asset In Xataka | China sold cheap batteries for years. The problem is that in the meantime no one built an alternative Cover | John Cameron

If the question is why the US wants to rescue Argentina with a fortune, the answer has two ingredients: China and Lithium

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Argentina entered again in Turbulence zone Despite the drastic fiscal and monetary adjustment of Javier Milei. A bulky defeat in provincial elections, the erosion of support in Congress and a corruption scandal that splashes their surroundings fired the doubts of the investors, forced sales of reservations by More than 1 billion of dollars in three days to defend the exchange band and approached the weight to the lower limit of the corridor. And then he The United States appeared With a briefcase under your arm. American help. Yes, the reaction was a political-financial turn of Washington: the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent, defined Argentina As “systemically important ally in Latin America” ​​and announced that “all options” were on the table to stabilize the markets, an explicit wink to the “whatver it Takes” of Mario Draghi in 2012. The message, a priori, had immediate effect on prices and expectations, but opened a greater debate about the scope, incentives and the risks of such support. What has been promised and how. The United States Treasury discusses a swap line with Buenos Aires of 20,000 million of dollars with the Central Bank and the possibility of buying sovereign debt in dollars from Argentina, in addition to making direct currency purchases if the conditions justify it. The operational tool would be the so -called Exchange Stabilization Fundwith wide discretionary margin to intervene in foreign exchange and assets, used in 1995 To help Mexico. Besent added that the treasure “is prepared” to acquire bonds and offer backup credit. Trump himself, after meeting with Milei, affirmed that will help, although he said “I don’t think they need a rescue,” framing assistance as access to “good debt” and market liquidity. In parallel, Milei sought internal oxygen suspending temporarily Grain export taxes to accelerate the flow of commercial dollars, while keeping operational, although partially activated, The swap line With the Popular Bank of China (18,000 million, of which about 5,000 are active). The small print. The announcement acted as a short circuit: The peso bounced, the 2029 and 2035 bonds recovered between 6 and 7 cents and the yield of 10 years in dollars fell from 17% to ~ 15%. Great managers They celebrated the signalunderlining that it provides a “critical window” to the legislative. However, investors requested details: effective volume, deadlines, conditions and intervention triggers. The Treasury He has suggested Absence of “conditionality” added to that of the IMF, but the practice usually imposes safeguards. In “House”, the package faces resistance: Criticism in Congress American questions to allocate emergency funds to sustain the currency and assets of a third party, with the political risk of being perceived as a lifeguard to Trump’s personal ally. Strategic reasons: why. The Analysts coincide With a clearly geopolitical reason: reduce dependence Argentina from China in financing, swaps and access to critical minerals Like lithiumand strengthen an openly government Pro-Mercado and aligned With Washington. The second It is financial: Prevent an episode of regional systemic instability due about 35% of the living support of the background on a global scale. The third may be of global signal: reaffirm the capacity of the United States to stabilize emerging markets with sovereign instruments, projecting financial power in a context of strategic competence. And the fourth, more tactical, purely electoral: Prevent short -term stress Extra ball: Meme politics. An added, less economical and more symbolic factor is politics turned into “Meme”. Just like Bukele He built prisons In El Salvador for ICE deportees as a gesture to Trump, Milei has earned a place within the magician imaginary in the United States for Your incendiary stylehis rejection of the establishment and His libertarian rhetoric. Under that prism, the current White House is willing to hold it because it embodies a political-cultural ally More than institutional, if you want to also, a kind of entry between “politically incorrect countries” that lend mutual support. If instead of Milei will govern A classic Peronista rescue of this size would have hardly been articulated, although, paradoxically, Trump shares with Peronism more related features than with the libertarian ideology that Milei proclaims. Lithium site A NAFTA as a counterpart. It We have counted before. Another angle to consider is the possibility that the financial rescue serves as prelude to an eventual Free Trade Agreement Between the United States and Argentina, a play that would fit with the interests of both parties. For Washington, it would be a way to shield access to strategic raw materials under a stable institutional framework and without the threat that Beijing capitalizes them through state investments. For Milei, a NAFTA with the world’s first economy would be political and economic support Of enormous value, with the ability to attract private capital, reduce financing and consolidate its image of “reliable partner” within the western block. The scenario, which is known, is not formally at the table, but the background of the rescue makes it a plausible possibility: the United States does not usually move chips of this magnitude without also binding long -term commercial commitments. The Argentine structural problem. The Financial Times counted This week that “shock therapy” stopped hyperinflationary drift, but the economy is still caught in A monetary duality that makes the system dependent and vulnerable to twists of feeling: each capital output realizes distrust in the peso and forces expensive defenses with few reserves. In this framework, the discussion about dollarization returns to the center: Milei champied her In campaign, then postponed it for its costs (loss of monetary policy, impossibility of adjusting by exchange rate and binding external cycles), but broad support from the United States could reopen it. Regional experience (Ecuador) and The European They teach to enter is easy and get almost impossible. Without tax reforms, productivity, exchange regime and institutional credibility, assistance can become a expensive and ephemeral patch. China and Treasures. As we said, the “nuclear” aims to remove Buenos Aires from the Chinese orbit in the dispute for strategic resources. The lithium of the “triangle” that integrates Argentina, … Read more

In the search to eliminate the lithium of the batteries, we have found the best candidate: multivent ion batteries

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Lithium ion batteries move the world and, in the era of electrification, every time They are more important. They have a series of limitations and Lithium is a finite resource With a high environmental impact, which is a problem if we want to electrify mobility. There the future solid state batteriesbut meanwhile, a group of NJIT researchers He has had an idea to give more life to the current technology: squeeze the maximum current batteries. As? With multivent ion batteries. Multivalent ions. A team of researchers from the New Jersey Institute -Njit- had an idea. If lithium is key to current batteries, but also scarce, We could use more abundant elements such as magnesium, calcium, aluminum or zinc as a replacement or to ‘dopar’ current batteries. The objective was to maintain, at least, the properties of current batteries and, if possible, improve storage benefits without depending on lithium. There the multive ion batteries come into play. If Ion-Litio have only one load, multiveous ion batteries that use the aforementioned elements allow two or even three positive charges. This property, in theory, allows you to store more energy by ion. Not everything is perfect. This property, as exposed in the studyit allows to store more energy by ion, but if they are not used it is because they present an important technical challenge. Multivalent ions are larger than lithium and have a greater load, which makes their movement difficult within current materials. To make it easy, imagine that the interior of the cells of a lithium -ion battery is a sponge with a certain number of recesses that catch particles. In a multivete ion battery, it has more holes and each one catches more particles, but the sponge is also greater. Accelerated by AI. That was the great limitation of the technological industry, but what NJIT researchers have done is to put the artificial intelligence To work. In this context, the use of AI is ideal because it allows simulating a large range of possibilities, of which the most convincing to test them. The end of the AI was to find new viable compounds to create multive ion batteries and, for this, they used a dual approach. On the one hand, a model called CDVAE (Variational Crystal Dissemination Self -coach) that was trained with known crystalline structures to generate new materials. On the other, a model of LLM LLM LANGUAGE Aphinated to select only the most thermodynamically stable structures. When they finished the work, they discovered five new porous metal oxides that are shown as ideal for transporting multivalent ions quickly and safely. “One of the greatest obstacles was not the lack of promising chemicals for batteries, but the practical impossibility of trying millions of material combinations,” said Dibakar Datta, leader of the research team. “We resort to generative artificial intelligence as a rapid and systematic way to explore that vast panorama and detect the few structures that multivalent batteries could really do practices.” Structures isolated by AI models. Section A is that of the CDVAE. The B is that of LLM Beyond the batteries. The team states that it validated the structures generated by AI using mechanical-chanting simulations and stability tests, confirming that these isolated materials could be synthesized with great potential for applications in the real world. Currently, and with those results, from the NJIT they are collaborating with other laboratories to synthesize and test those materials designed by AI. And something that Datta highlights is that, as a collateral effect on research, they have demonstrated once again that AI can be “a quick and scalable method to explore any advanced material, from electronics to clean energy solutions, without relying on extensive tests by test and error.” Once the best results are isolated, of course, it is time to try them in the real world, but much of the previous work It accelerates considerably. A mere patch? Now, although changing the ‘formula’ of lithium -ion batteries can be a good patch, the objective of the industry is still put in the implementation of solid state batteries. The catalyst in them is not a liquid, but a solid that allows us to solve many of the problems of current batteries, while offering a Greater energy density and faster load times. They are batteries that are already developed and that are being driven by Much of the automotive industrybut the problem is that it is a more expensive technology and is not settled. Bringing it to the real world, for example, Mercedes is already in itwhile other brands like BMW say that, for the moment, they are not in their plans due to precisely the price. Images | NJIT, Cell Reports Physical Science, Kumpan Electric In Xataka | An extraordinarily promising substitute has come out of the batteries. And yes, it has everything

The good news is that there is a material that works well on the walls of fusion reactors. The bad: it is lithium

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We know how the sun works. Another thing is to imitate it. If we got Build a nuclear fusion reactorwe would have clean, safe and practically unlimited energy. But doing so involves incredibly complex engineering challenges. The wall problem. One of the more colossal challenges In nuclear fusion is to build a container that supports a hottest plasma than the sun’s core. For years, scientists have been experiencing with various materials, from graphite to high resistance metals such as tungsten. A recent researchthe result of an international collaboration of nine institutions, confirms that we have a star candidate that works spectacularly well for the wall of the reactors: lithium. A self -refrasinal shield. To understand why lithium is so attractive, you must first visualize the hell that is unleashed inside a tokamak, the most common fusion reactor design. A hydrogen gas, mainly its deuterium and tritium isotopesmore than 100 million degrees Celsius is heated to become a plasma. Magnetic fields potently confine it so that it does not touch anything, but it is impossible to prevent some particles from escaping and violently shocking against the interior walls of the reactor. This is where lithium shines because it can be used in a liquid state. Instead of eroding and degrading with each impact, it flows and heals himself instantly. This self -referential liquid layer would protect the solid components behind. Moreover, if the reactor walls are hot enough, the lithium can form a steam shield that absorbs much of the impact before it reaches the solid surface. Goodbye to graphite? Research shows that lithium is not only a passive shield, but an active plasma conditioner. Instead of reflecting the fuel particles that escape, cooling the edge of plasma and destabilizing it, lithium absorbs them. This helps keep heat where it has to be and, therefore, to stabilize the fusion reaction and improve the confinement of plasma. According to researchers, lithium is a promising candidate to replace graphite, which has a much higher erosion rate. Applied in tungsten walls, it allows to operate the fusion to greater power densities, opening the door to more compact and efficient reactors. Two ways to apply it. The researchers tested, on the one hand, to cover the lithium walls before lighting the plasma and, on the other, to inject lithium powder directly on the plasma during the reactor operation. The injection was much more effective when creating a uniform and stable temperature profile, one of the sacred conditions for commercial fusion. All tests were carried out at the Tokamak Diii-D of General Atomics with financing from the United States Department of Energy. The authors of the study, published in the Materials and Energy nuclear magazine, are researchers of the Princeton plasma physics laboratory and his collaborators. Bad news. In addition to exercising even more pressure on the already tensioning lithium market (Although it does not scarce, it is not extracted to the rhythm that grows its demand), there is a more alarming problem. The lithium is too much Well at work. Catch the tritium with a very high efficiency, preventing it from returning to plasma to be used as fuel. If the tritio is stuck to the walls, the reactor ends up running out of fuel and the cycle breaks. The accumulation of radioactive tritium in cold areas and difficult to access the reactor also greatly complicates its maintenance and is a safety risk. To top it off, the retention is more significant if the lithium is injected with the reactor in operation, the most efficient application method. A possible solution. The key is that these experiments were carried out with lithium in solid state, at temperatures below its melting point. In a real reactor, with liquid lithium, The solution could be a “dialysis” system: Instead of bathing the walls by a lithium river and leaving it there, it would be continuously extracted from the reactor, taken to a processing plant to separate the tritium trapped, and pumped back, clean and ready to continue working. The reactor design would have to adapt to this new proposal. It would be necessary to avoid the cold areas where lithium and tritio could accumulate and stay stagnant, keep the walls at higher and more controlled temperatures, and include the circuit to extract, processes and continuously introduce lithium. A material that solves multiple problems in our mission of simulating the sun, but in return introduces new and also complex. Image | General Atomics In Xataka | There is an alternative to nuclear fusion. It is already underway and is extraordinarily promising

While half the world seeks more lithium, some researchers from China have eliminated it from the equation: batteries with bacteria

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The shortage of critical resources such as lithium and cobalt has been being a warningsince they are essential for the manufacture of batteries. However, a group of Chinese engineers have found a solution that does not require mining or polluting processes: it only needs bacteria. The study. Researchers from the Shenzhen Advanced Technology They have developed A battery that works with live bacteria. These microorganisms are electroactive, that is, they produce electricity. So the system uses hydrogels that contain living bacteria To conduct electricity and generate it, in addition within the soft material they are protected. Tangible applications Biobatería has a small size and ability to generate energy autonomously, ideal for integrating into portable devices, especially in the medical field. One of its most promising uses is the precise control of physiological functions such as blood pressure, by directed bioelectric stimulation. In this way, a door opens to new forms of physiotherapy, real -time monitoring and devices that do not require frequent recharge or toxic materials. More technical. Biobatería generates electricity thanks to the activity of bacteria such as Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1, which are contained in a alginate-based gel. The material It can be molded With 3D printers, which allows to design it. Its size of 20 mm in diameter and 3.2 mm high contains: a gel with bacteria that acts as an anode, another gel with a chemical that acts as a cathode, and a special membrane that allows the passage of ions between them. Replaces lithium? Its specific capacity (0.4 mAh/g) and energy density (0.008 WH/L) are lower than those of lithium -ion batteries, this biobatría offers a more sustainable alternative: it does not use critical materials or toxic components. In addition, it maintains a bacterial viability of 70 % during its operation and reaches 97.6 % at the end, which speaks of remarkable stability and efficiency. Forecasts Biobaterías are still far from reaching lithium in capacity or energy density. But what they lose potentially, compensate for it with other virtues: they are recharged alone, they are highly efficient and, above all, biocompatible. These qualities make them especially suitable for very specific uses, such as nerve stimulation, control of physiological functions or the operation of bioportile devices. Image | Unspash and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – PNNL Xataka | Biological batteries? These bacteria can create a world based on renewable energies

NAXTRA strongly bets on sodium as an alternative to lithium

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Catl’s name may not sound to you if you don’t follow the world of the electric car closely, but we are talking about the main battery manufacturer worldwide. Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Volkswagen are some of the giants who trust their products. Now, this Chinese colossus wants to go one step further. The focus is in sodium ion batteries, a technology that timidly presented in 2021 and now wants to boost on a large scale. Naxtra: The new battle horse. The next Catl movement is called Naxtra, its new sodium batteries line. The company plans to start mass production in the coming months, with an eye on its strategic partners and the global deployment of the product. Less lithium, more sodium. Sodium, more abundant and cheap than lithium, allows to reduce the dependence of the latter and strengthen the basis of new energy technologies. According to Ouyang Chuying, Catl R&D co -director, sodium ion batteries could have a cost advantage as the supply chain strengthens. A range, two solutions. Catl has developed two versions of its Naxtra batteries: one for passenger electric vehicles and a 24 V one with integrated Start-Stop system, designed for heavy trucks. Both are designed to perform in extreme conditions, from -40 ° C to +70 ° C. Extreme cold, the battery for cars maintains 90 % of its capacity. Even with only 10 % load, it retains stable performance at -40 ° C, without significant losses of power. Autonomy, cycles and security. The tourism version reaches an energy density of 175 Wh/kg, the highest recorded in sodium batteries, in line with LFP. It promises an autonomy of 500 km and more than 10,000 load cycles, which reduces maintenance costs remarkably. And, above all, it improves security. By eliminating combustion -prone materials, Catl claims to have gone from passive protection to intrinsic security. The sodium, by its own chemistry, has fewer fire risks in electric vehicles. Images | JUICE In Xataka | I have got on the denza Z9GT and I have clear one thing: this Chinese by -looking car looks at the face of many Europeans of 100,000 euros

The hidden key behind the entire spinal encounter between Javier Milei and Elon Musk: Lithium

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The most popular news today is the bizarre gift from Milei to Musk: a chainsaw, how could it be otherwise. However, like any media show, a background related to energy resources and possible commercial opening with the United States is being hidden. In situation. Yesterday, February 20, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that the Republican party is celebrating near Washington, where Musk and Milei were. There, the president of Argentina gave a chainsaw to the owner of Tesla, who called her as The “Bureaucracy chainsaw”. First of all this show, the question is: What is Milei doing? On the one hand, after controversial support for cryptocurrency $ librathe Argentine president has chosen to get away from all that storm and travel to his place on Earth: United States. On the other hand, Javier Milei He has gathered With Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), To discuss the economic situation from Argentina. In addition, the United States Chamber of Commerce in Argentina The nation has announced for the environment that Argentina has “serious possibilities” of accessing a free trade agreement with the United States. Milei and Musk’s relationship. This friendship between Javier and Elon is not new, and unites a very important and necessary energy resource for the second: lithium. Argentina has historically been very rich in natural resources and has become a fundamental actor for the new technology, especially because it shares the “Lithium triangle” next to Chile and Bolivia. In that aspect, Milei has undertaken A reformist agenda that seeks to eliminate all environmental and social regulation to attract foreign investors, and lithium has become an essential pillar in its economic strategic. Hence his relationship with the tycoon of Tesla, who has shown great interest in the exploitation of lithium. An example of this boom is The Centennial Mouse projectlocated in the province of Salta, where lithium is being extracted. Operated by the French company ERAMET, this site is expected to produce 24,000 tons of lithium lithium carbonate battery, sufficient to supply 600,000 electric vehicles a year. Opening with the United States. “Who wants something, something costs him,” but sometimes this phrase must be rethink and ask: but what cost? The fact is that while Musk approaches Milei, he is finding out how to get one more loan for Argentina. The Argentine president not only went to take refuge to the American country and feel the heat of his “friends”, but also to talk to the IMF and discuss a new financial agreement within the framework of his economic adjustment plan. During the meeting, Georgieva The country’s “progress” has highlightedincluding deficit reduction, low inflation and economic growth. However, one thing is the numbers and another reality: everything has been achieved based on a severe tax adjustment, eliminating subsidies and reducing ministrieswhich has generated a strong social impact and discontent in broad sectors of the population. In addition, economists have explained to the CNN That Georgieva’s subsequent statement was not “very constructive”, since he did not offer concrete details about additional financial support or changes in the exchange scheme. Despite the praise, the new agreement has not yet been specified, and doubts persist about the amounts and conditions that the IMF could demand. Commercial Opening. While Donald Trump has begun to put tariffs on all countries it seems that he will make an exception with Argentina. In fact, the United States Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (Amcham) He has affirmed that the country has “serious possibilities” of accessing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, with Uruguay and Ecuador as the countries of the region with the most likely to achieve this agreement. According to Amcham, Argentina is key in sectors such as critical minerals and energy, which reinforces its position in negotiations. In addition, they stressed that a recent FTA between the United States and South Korea took place in just 11 months, suggesting that Argentina could follow a similar path. However, they warned that factors such as the lack of designations in key positions of the US government and internal differences could delay the implementation of these measures in the short term. In this context. The Economic Community and the Argentine Society remain expectant to advances in the negotiations and implications they will have in the country’s economy and social welfare. Everything remains to be seen in country with great reservations of minerals and oil. Image | President’s office Xataka | “Ponzidente”: How $ Libra and the cryptocurrency macroestaf

An Australian company has discovered “very encouraging” lithium and rubidium amounts in Salamanca. The potential is huge

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West of the province of Salamanca, near the border of Spain with Portugal, a finding that the Berkeley Australian company He has cataloged “very encouraging”. Significant amounts of lithium, essential for the manufacture of batteries, and rubidium, a scarce and strategic metal. The news. The Berkeley Energy mining group has found important concentrations of lithium and rubidium in a site in the province of Salamanca. These explorations are part of the Conchas project, which covers an area of ​​31 kilometers covered by sediments of the Cenozoic in the Ciudad Rodrigo region. The announcement, cataloged as “very encouraging” by the company, has fired its price 21% In the Australian bag. Why it is important. Lithium is the gold of the 21st century: an essential metal for the manufacture of batteries that has gone from feeding our electronic devices to boost electric vehicles and energy storage from renewable sources, so its demand is still increasing. But rubidium, in particular, is a metal of enormous strategic value. Because it is scarce and the time critical for sectors such as defense, medicine, telecommunications, Quantum computing and renewable energies. It is in atomic watches (GPS, missile guidance), photoelectric cells (night vision systems, Perosvkita solar panels), tomographies, ionic propulsion, data transmission … and its production is dominated by China. Now what. Berkeley has identified thick and shallow areas of lithium and rubidium, which facilitates its possible extraction, but not everything is said. The company will expand the polls and test the samples extracted to evaluate its metallurgical potential, a key step when determining the economic viability of the project. The results of these tests are expected to know this same quarter to define the following steps. It is not the only project. The Essential Metals Limited Australian company (Australia is one of the leading countries in lithium extraction) found high grade lithium to Villasrubias, a town in Salamanca that historically dedicated itself to tin extraction. “Perhaps it is the region, not only of Spain, but of Europe, which has the greatest number of critical raw materials identified, and that are listed by the European Union, due to their economic importance for the development of green energy and for the risk of dependence on third countries “, A project spokesman said. The environmental impact. Known for claiming one billion dollars in damages to the Spanish government after this prohibit the research and use of uraniumBerkeley has the support of the markets in the face of the discovery of lithium and rubidium, but will have to detail the environmental impact of its extraction if the project will continue. The extraction of lithium, in addition to altering the landscape, requires large amounts of water and can release heavy metals and acids in the soil. It would not be the first time that a project is filed for the risk for neighboring peoples, as has happened Until twice in Ávila Duela denunciation of environmental associations. Image | Bybyk (CC BY-CC 4.0), DNN87 (CC BY 3.0) In Xataka | In Salamanca there is a high -tech nuclear fuel bars factory that exports to all of Europe: we have visited it

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