Summary draft 1

The web page “How an accidental discovery made this year could change the world” from BIGTHINK (The Future, 2022) introduces the possibility of use of the lithium-sulfur battery. Lithium ion batteries can be used to power most electronic devices or machineries.

Nonetheless they are extremely toxic to the vast ecosystems, lifecycle problems from repeated charging, battery degradation which meant higher cost required for battery replacement, cumbersome for lightweight applications and also it being flammable which led Drexel scientists to look into Lithium sulfur batteries.     

The lithium-sulfur battery eliminates the above issues however, it only has half the charging cycle of lithium ion batteries.


The goal was to make these batteries last longer; instead, scientists accidentally discovered a phase that stops battery degradation. The results are that Lithium-sulfur batteries, as compared to lithium-ion batteries, last twice as long, have three times more energy, charge equally fast, reduce battery expansion, increase safety margins, and are cheaper. Scientists have not figured out how it's happening so the batteries cannot be used practically.


Lithium-sulfur batteries potentially allow a huge range of activities to go full electric like short-haul flights, cargo vessels and passenger ferries. Resulting in weight-saving, longevity and competitive prices to achieve low-carbon goals. The materials are globally abundant, minimizing mining’s ecological impact and ensuring a strong supply chain transitioning towards a cleaner, carbon-neutral society.

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Summary Reader Response (Revised)

The web page “How an accidental discovery made this year could change the world” from BIGTHINK (Lockett, 2022) introduces the possibility of replacing our current choice of lithium-ion batteries with lithium-sulfur batteries due to their advantages. According to Lockett (2022) lithium-ion batteries have lifecycle problems from repeated charging, and battery degradation, which means a higher cost is required for battery replacement, and when mined, the materials are extremely harmful to the environment discharging toxic chemicals. Lithium-sulfur batteries are an improvement on the above issues but have only half the charging cycle of lithium-ion batteries (Lockett, 2022). However, Drexel scientists’ recent discovery of monoclinic gamma-phase sulfur, although not fully understood to be put into practical use, prevents battery degradation in lithium-sulfur batteries altogether (Lockett, 2022). Compared to lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries last two times longer, have three ti
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