Microsoft, US lab use AI to speed search for new battery materials

FILE PHOTO: The Microsoft store sign is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

(Reuters) - Microsoft has worked with a U.S. national laboratory to use artificial intelligence to rapidly identify a material that could mean producing batteries that require 70% less lithium than now, the company said on Tuesday.

The replacement of much of the lithium with sodium, a common element found in table salt, still needs extensive evaluation by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington to determine whether it will be suitable for mass production.