Bill Gates on the hunt for metamaterials for new devices

Overcoming the characteristics of natural materials is something that man has always done, let’s think of the metal alloys used since prehistoric times to improve the characteristics of the single metal. And then again: composite materials, which combine two different materials to obtain the desired characteristics. Reinforced concrete and plywood are examples of this. Metamaterials go beyond this concept, bringing into play not only the chemical composition, but also the structure: what makes the difference is also and above all how their molecules are arranged. They have peculiar electromagnetic, acoustic or mechanical characteristics, not present in nature, and are fundamental for research in the optical and microwave fields. This is why the fields of application are many and there are funds such as that of Meta-VC Partners also supported by Bill Gates. Lenses, antennas, sensors, filters, with unique properties that challenge reality as we know it, for devices with increasingly advanced functions and minimum dimensions. One of the fields of application of metamaterials that is of great interest in this period is related to batteries. Particular metamaterials with electromagnetic properties could allow us in the not too distant future to say goodbye to batteries, giving the possibility, for example, to our smartphone to work thanks to the impulses sent by a special conductive clothing. This is at a time when all over the tech world is facing the ethical and economic dilemma of cobalt, an essential ingredient of modern lithium batteries, much lighter and more powerful than traditional batteries and now used everywhere. A smartphone contains from 5 to 10 grams, a laptop 30, an electric car from 4 to 9 kg. About 60% of the cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world. Many miners are children, working in semi-bondage conditions by extracting the ore with their bare hands. At least 100,000 people in Congo work, without protection and with minimum wages, in the mines of cobalt, which is then exported and processed to produce lithium batteries. A production process dominated by China, which processes 80% of the world’s cobalt and produces 56% of lithium batteries (followed by the US with 14%) The demand for cobalt has exploded in recent years. According to Morgan Stanley estimates, 1,300 tons of cobalt were used in electric vehicles alone in 2014, and is projected to become 63,000 in 2025. Growing demand has spurred prices over a two-year period, from 2016 to 2018 quadrupled. Here the research on new materials comes into play: at the forefront is Tesla, which is trying to reduce the presence of cobalt in its batteries and hopes to be able to eliminate it completely, even if there are still no appreciable results. The answer may be not so much to eliminate the cobalt, but directly to the batteries.