Cerebral, the brainchild of Dr. Lynden Archer—Dean of the School of Engineering at Cornell University, is as the name implies, a smart approach to battery development. Claimed to be three times more efficient than lithium, much safer with no fire risk, and ten times faster charging, the battery is made of recycled aluminum and graphene. In fact, materials for the battery come from United States-based waste streams. Low-grade domestic carbon waste, for example, goes through a “Graphitizer,” a machine “created at the University of California, Riverside’s Mechanical Engineering Department and exclusively optioned by Cerebral Energy.”
(Editor’s Note: Forgive the lack of product-related images or videos here. Your editor could not find an illustration of a graphitizer, for instance, or any research photos or graphs related to this relatively new research area. We will share any such images as soon as they are available.)
The Uncertain Graphite Supply Line
This is an important development, since the U. S. imports most of its graphite currently – mostly from China. This comes as a bit of a shock to your editor, considering that carbon is, according to Wikipedia, the, “15th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon’s abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life. It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen.”
Common materials readily available, especially if recycled, make aluminum-air batteries subjects of varied research
Since carbon is the basis for graphite and thus graphene, it’s even more surprising to learn that the production of synthetic graphite, necessary for the production of graphene, is not more wide spread. China makes 77 percent of the world’s supply, with strategic potential for the U. S. Because China can control the supply of this material, the supply chain is uncertain. Recent American moves heighten that uncertainty. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentivized U. S. companies to build domestic supply sources. According to the S&P Mobility Index, “On Dec. 1, 2023, the US government released guidance on the foreign entity of concern (FEOC), which restricts federal tax credits for EVs using batteries or materials primarily sourced from China.” These factors put a squeeze on the supply of synthetic graphite.
A Domestic Solution
AFWERX. the United State’s Air Forces research group, has granted $1.6 million to Cerebral Energy (cerebral.eco) in a Phase II STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) follow-on contract from the program. This funding will advance the development of AGILE, a groundbreaking lithium-free secondary battery utilizing recycled aluminum and graphene from US waste streams. Just for fun, let’s look at a simply home-made sample that doesn’t require government funding. Your editor doesn’t guarantee similar results, but the video does highlight the potential for the basic Al-Air cell. Do follow the basic safety rules involved if you try this at home.
The Graphitizer , according to Cerebral, “rapidly transforms low-grade carbon waste into highly crystalline synthetic graphite. By deploying Graphitizer units nationwide, we will: recycle US carbon waste into an affordable critical material, establish a reliable domestic graphite supply, and reduce dependence on foreign sources while reducing the carbon footprint of synthetic graphite processing.”
Couple that with obtaining other materials necessary for production of Cerebral’s battery from U. S.-based waste streams and low-cost supply and processing becomes a viable reality.
Similar, Earlier Efforts
Many other academic and commercial have tried for this combination of environmental stewardship and reasonable performance. The Chinese and Harvard attempted sandwich-type solutions, with results yet to be determined. Phinergy, an Israeli company manufacturing in India, relies on an aluminum-air approach and has achieved 1,000-kilometer road trips in cars powered by its swappable packs over a decade age. IBM labored for years on sustainable aluminum-air packs through their Battery 500 program.
None of these or dozens of others seem to have made it into wide-spread commercial viability, that hope seemingly a continuously elusive one.
The current project has the benefit of a domestically-available supply chain and uses otherwise waste products – a huge incentive in our otherwise wasteful world. Lower costs, less mess, and the promise of great performance are driving this program. Let’s wish them luck.