Posted By: *Shrug--more detail-less PR. Okay, here's the poop on this story:

First of all, they're talking about zinc-manganese oxide cells; those things that we've grown to love as "alkaline batteries". The problem has historically been that the technology is useful only in primary cells; Zn-MnO₂ cells are not easily recharged and rapidly lose capacity.

The reason for this has not been well-understood until about 3 years ago, when some scientists from PNNL discovered what happens when an alkaline cell is recharged. Said scientists have figured workarounds, but due to the lower power density of Zn-MnO₂ cells in comparison with lithium-ion rechargeables, it's pretty much been a nonstarter.

So the gist of the subject article is that the University of Adelaide folks think that they can make a commercially-competitive product. Let's hope that they succeed--AU $1M isn't all that much in the R&D world.

(I wondered where I'd seen the image that headlines this article--it was cribbed from the 2016 PNNL article that I cited.)