What's being hailed as a breakthrough might soon see magnesium batteries replace lithium ion rechargeable batteries and put paid to the "low battery" complaint frequently heard among mobile device users.

Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) believes it's stumbled upon the secret to efficiently using magnesium to power rechargeable batteries. The secret is a "magnesium-friendly electrolyte" that doesn't degrade the magnesium while efficiently transferring power.

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Toyota researchers said magnesium batteries have an energy density 8 to 12 times higher than Li-ion batteries and charge-discharge efficiency that's five times higher. In other words, magnesium-based batteries last a lot longer and pack a lot more power.

These batteries can pack a lot more power because the magnesium ions in the electrolyte carry a double positive charge. This increases the overall energy density that can be stored for any given battery pack size.

Magnesium batteries might soon replace most Li-ion batteries in devices requiring rechargeable batteries. They're also safer than Li-ions because they don't tend to burst into flames when cracked and exposed to air.

This flaw is the major shortcoming in Li-ion batteries and is the main reason these batteries can't deliver enough power to satisfy user needs. Making Li-ion batteries safer means reducing the amount of power they store.

Toyota engineers haven't produced magnesium batteries yet but said their sharing their discovery might soon pave the way for the production of these batteries. They said a chance discovery during research into hydrogen fuel cells triggered the chain of events leading to the use of magnesium in rechargeable batteries.

Toyota principal scientist and chemical engineer Rana Mohtadi realized the properties of the hydrogen storage material she'd been working with might be conducive to a magnesium-based battery. Toyota formed a team and set to work to test this hypothesis.

The team wrote a paper outlining the discovery that was published in the Angewandte Chemie International Edition. They hope other researchers outside Toyota will find their research useful, thereby speeding-up the development of usable magnesium-based batteries.

Tagsmagnesium batteries, lithium ion rechargeable batteries, Toyota Research Institute of North America, magnesium-friendly electrolyte