Opportunities and Reality of Aqueous Rechargeable Batteries

Despite the dominance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in today's battery market, they are not flawless. Accordingly, the battery community is striving to strengthen the global battery portfolio with alternative systems. One branch of this effort is research into aqueous rechargeable batteries (ARBs). The simplicity of this concept, as well as rising safety concerns in commercial LIBs, has attracted numerous ARB-related investigations in the past decade. Such heightened interest calls for a critical assessment of the field, especially with respect to its current state and potential opportunities. This essay examines the reality of ARBs in terms of their current socio-technological context, which has been formed through a long history of battery research and development, often intertwined with social demands of the time. Attention is directed toward rechargeable batteries, briefly discussing their history, chemistry, and applications. The emergence of LIBs and their quick rise to market dominance with the concurrent fall of primitive ARBs serves as context for evaluating the current reality for newly emerging ARBs. Assessing their current position in academia and the battery market allows us to identify future opportunities and hurdles for incorporating ARBs into the global battery portfolio.