Rocking-chair based lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have extensively applied to consumer electronics and electric vehicles (EVs) for solving the present worldwide issues of fossil fuel exhaustion and environmental pollution. However, due to the growing unprecedented demand of LIBs for commercialization in EVs and grid-scale energy storage stations, and a shortage of lithium and cobalt, the increasing cost gives impetus to exploit low-cost rechargeable battery systems. Dual-ion batteries (DIBs), in which both cations and anions are involved in the electrochemical redox reaction, are one of the most promising candidates to meet the low-cost requirements of commercial applications, because of their high working voltage, excellent safety, and environmental friendliness compared to conventional rocking-chair based LIBs. However, DIB technologies are only at the stage of fundamental research and considerable effort is required to improve the energy density and cycle life further. We review the development history and current situation, and discuss the reaction kinetics involved in DIBs, including various anionic intercalation mechanism of cathodes, and the reactions at the anodes including intercalation and alloying to explore promising strategies towards low-cost DIBs with high performance.

Strategies towards Low-Cost Dual-Ion Batteries with High Performance.

Flood basalts, the largest volcanic events in Earth history, are thought to drive global environmental change because they can emit large volumes of CO2 and SO2 over short geologic time scales. Eruption of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) has been linked to elevated atmospheric CO2 and global warming during the mid-Miocene climate optimum (MMCO) ~16 million years (Ma) ago. However, a causative relationship between volcanism and warming remains speculative, as the timing and tempo of CRBG eruptions is not well known. We use U-Pb geochronology on zircon-bearing volcanic ash beds intercalated within the basalt stratigraphy to build a high-resolution CRBG eruption record. Our data set shows that more than 95% of the CRBG erupted between 16.7 and 15.9 Ma, twice as fast as previous estimates. By suggesting a recalibration of the geomagnetic polarity time scale, these data indicate that the onset of flood volcanism is nearly contemporaneous with that of the MMCO.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/4/9/eaat8223.full.pdf

Rapid eruption of the Columbia River flood basalt and correlation with the mid-Miocene climate optimum.

Towards a low-carbon society: A review of lithium resource availability, challenges and innovations in mining, extraction and recycling, and future perspectives

The Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO; ca. 17-14.7 Ma) represents one of several major interruptions in the long-term cooling trend of the past 50 m.y. To date, the processes driving high-amplitude climate variability and sustaining global warmth during this remarkable interval remain highly enigmatic. We present high-resolution benthic foraminiferal and bulk carbonate stable isotope records in an exceptional, continuous, carbonate-rich sedimentary archive (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1337, eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean), which offer a new view of climate evolution over the onset of the MCO. A sharp decline in delta O-18 and delta C-13 at ca. 16.9 Ma, contemporaneous with a massive increase in carbonate dissolution, demonstrates that abrupt warming was coupled to an intense perturbation of the carbon cycle. The rapid recovery in delta C-13 at ca. 16.7 Ma, similar to 250 k.y. after the beginning of the MCO, marks the onset of the first carbon isotope maximum within the long-lasting "Monterey Excursion." These results lend support to the notion that atmospheric pCO(2) variations drove profound changes in the global carbon reservoir through the MCO, implying a delicate balance between changing CO2 fluxes, rates of silicate weathering, and global carbon sequestration. Comparison with a high-resolution delta C-13 record spanning the onset of the Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (similar to 120 m.y. ago) reveals common forcing factors and climatic responses, providing a long-term perspective to understand climate-carbon cycle feedbacks during warmer periods of Earth's climate with markedly different atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Global Perturbation of the Carbon Cycle at the Onset of the Miocene Climatic Optimum

The omnipresence of lithium-ion batteries in mobile electronics, and hybrid and electric vehicles necessitates discovery of new lithium resources to meet rising demand and to diversify the global lithium supply chain. Here we demonstrate that lake sediments preserved within intracontinental rhyolitic calderas formed on eruption and weathering of lithium-enriched magmas have the potential to host large lithium clay deposits. We compare lithium concentrations of magmas formed in a variety of tectonic settings using in situ trace-element measurements of quartz-hosted melt inclusions to demonstrate that moderate to extreme lithium enrichment occurs in magmas that incorporate felsic continental crust. Cenozoic calderas in western North America and in other intracontinental settings that generated such magmas are promising new targets for lithium exploration because lithium leached from the eruptive products by meteoric and hydrothermal fluids becomes concentrated in clays within caldera lake sediments to potentially economically extractable levels. Lithium is increasingly being utilized for modern technology in the form of lithium-ion batteries. Here, using in situ measurements of quartz-hosted melt inclusions, the authors demonstrate that preserved lake sediments within rhyolitic calderas have the potential to host large lithium-rich clay deposits.

Lithium enrichment in intracontinental rhyolite magmas leads to Li deposits in caldera basins.

Using 40Ar/39Ar ages of intercalated silicic tuffs to date flood basalts: Precise ages for Steens Basalt Member of the Columbia River Basalt Group

Geology and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the middle Miocene McDermitt volcanic field, Oregon and Nevada: Silicic volcanism associated with propagating flood basalt dikes at initiation of the Yellowstone hotspot

Geology of the Mid-Miocene Rooster Comb Caldera and Lake Owyhee Volcanic Field, eastern Oregon: Silicic volcanism associated with Grande Ronde flood basalt

Lithium clay mineralization by reverse weathering: lithium isotope insights into a new genesis model for the largest known lithium deposit in north america

Thomas R. Benson

Papers

Lithium enrichment in intracontinental rhyolite magmas leads to Li deposits in caldera basins.

Using 40Ar/39Ar ages of intercalated silicic tuffs to date flood basalts: Precise ages for Steens Basalt Member of the Columbia River Basalt Group

Geology and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the middle Miocene McDermitt volcanic field, Oregon and Nevada: Silicic volcanism associated with propagating flood basalt dikes at initiation of the Yellowstone hotspot

Geology of the Mid-Miocene Rooster Comb Caldera and Lake Owyhee Volcanic Field, eastern Oregon: Silicic volcanism associated with Grande Ronde flood basalt

Lithium clay mineralization by reverse weathering: lithium isotope insights into a new genesis model for the largest known lithium deposit in north america