Will Lithium metal anode batteries escape the lab?

[DanKegel]

Now, I'm not a battery guy at all, but this paper in Nature just got some press:
"Stabilizing lithium metal using ionic liquids for long-lived batteries"

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160613/ncomms11794/pdf/ncomms11794.pdf

So I searched around a bit for context. Evidently researchers have been trying to build usable batteries with lithium metal anodes instead of the usual graphite ones for 20 or so years now, judging by the 1997 paper http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...78775396025463, as they supposedly would enable much higher energy densities. There has been a steady stream of papers on the subject; another recent one is
"Conductive Nanostructured Scaffolds Render Low Local Current Density to Inhibit Lithium Dendrite Growth"

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/adma.201504117/abstract

And there's many more. Looks like a cottage industry. It's like a thundering herd trying all sorts of ideas, but none of them has really stuck yet.

Are there any battery designers lurking here who can comment on the situation?

[Sunking]

Stop with your nonsense.

[Ian S]

Now, I'm not a battery guy at all, but this paper in Nature just got some press:
"Stabilizing lithium metal using ionic liquids for long-lived batteries"
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/16...comms11794.pdf

If I was doing my PhD in materials engineering today, that looks like a great area of study. A layer that inhibits dendritic growth would seem an obvious approach but what's not so obvious is how to get that layer formed and, as well, ensure it would not only have the necessary electrochemical properties but also have the requisite long term stability in the face of extensive cycling. Nature Communications publications are generally of high quality and are subject to peer review although the process is described as "streamlined" in the notes to authors. Anyone who has undergone peer review of their publications knows what a fun process it can be. So I would take seriously what these authors have found. Obviously, there would be a lot more investigation needed to get something commercially viable but it's a very promising approach.

[DanKegel]

Thanks for reminding me there are many journals under the Nature hat, I had forgotten.