Scientists in China have published details of a prototype gas-solid hydride ion battery they say stores electricity and hydrogen at the same time.

The team, led by scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published the findings of their research in the journal Joule on May 13.

Chinese state media agency Xinhua hailed the findings, noting that the new battery runs on hydride ions, instead of lithium or other common materials.

According to Xinhua, the team has been working on the project since 2018 — having first developed a new material in 2023 that allows hydride ions to move steadily at low temperatures. Two years later, they built the first all-solid-state hydride ion battery.

The prototype battery uses magnesium metal and hydrogen gas as its two electrodes. When the battery releases power, hydrogen gas turns into hydride ions, while the metal becomes a metal hydride. When the battery is charged, the process reverses, and the hydrogen can be released again. This means the battery stores both electricity and hydrogen at the same time.

According to the research team, the battery can work in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 90°C. Its initial discharge capacity reached 1,526 milliamp-hours per gram. It also maintained over 70% of its capacity after 60 charge-discharge cycles.

Team members said they stacked 10 small batteries together to form a larger battery pack, which produced more than 2.4V and successfully lit an LED bulb.

Ping Chen, a researcher at DICP, said: “The new battery achieved 93.9% energy efficiency, which is one-third higher than traditional thermal hydrogen storage methods.”

She said the new battery works at room temperature and normal pressure, storing hydrogen in the form of a solid metal hydride while the battery is being charged or discharged, eliminating the need for expensive high-pressure tanks or cryogenic cooling.