Strongbow Exploration (SBW-V) Tin and Energy
Here’s an amazing figure: there are around 8,000 research and development publications issued each year on tin – and the major theme is the metal’s use in energy.
ITRI (the London-based International Tin Research Institute) lists the uses of tin in the energy sector which include batteries (lead-acid, magnesium-ion, fuel cells), generation (solar cells, solar storage), hydrogen (methane to hydrogen, water spitting) and clean fuel (biodiesel catalysts, fuel catalysts).
But ITRI says tin may also have a role to play in lithium-ion batteries, to stabilize the silicon.
And tin is seen by ITRI as the leading anode material for what it calls “post lithium-ion” battery technologies, including magnesium-ion with Toyoto having a patent to use antimony and tin alloy, and bismuth and tin alloy. Tin sulphide could be used in sodium-ion storage technology.
Robin Bromby |
