News outlet covers the effort to develop alternative to lithium batteries, using hemp

Deyang Qu
Deyang Qu

Deyang Qu, the Johnson Controls Endowed Professor in Energy Storage Research, was recently interviewed by the Cap Times news outlet in a story about UWM’s partnership with Wisconsin Battery Company (WisBat).

The team is developing a sodium alkaline battery capable of holding a charge as long as lithium-ion batteries. Such a product would be less costly and more eco-friendly than lithium, but also provides comparable performance when hemp is used as the carbon source, instead of graphite.

Industrial hemp, which contains less than 0.3% of the psychoactive chemical THC, is legal in the U.S., Canada, China and Europe. Read the article.