At the risk of shocking everyone because I have ventured out of the charting threads for a minute, here is a just published bit of research to add to the "Lithium is doomed" list (previously occupied by Hydrogen and Sodium fuel cells/batteries):

The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor

Sukbae Lee,Ji-Hoon Kim,Young-Wan Kwon

For the first time in the world, we succeeded in synthesizing the room-temperature superconductor (Tc≥400K, 127∘C) working at ambient pressure with a modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure. The superconductivity of LK-99 is proved with the Critical temperature (Tc), Zero-resistivity, Critical current (Ic), Critical magnetic field (Hc), and the Meissner effect. The superconductivity of LK-99 originates from minute structural distortion by a slight volume shrinkage (0.48 %), not by external factors such as temperature and pressure. The shrinkage is caused by Cu2+substitution of Pb2+(2) ions in the insulating network of Pb(2)-phosphate and it generates the stress. It concurrently transfers to Pb(1) of the cylindrical column resulting in distortion of the cylindrical column interface, which creates superconducting quantum wells (SQWs) in the interface. The heat capacity results indicated that the new model is suitable for explaining the superconductivity of LK-99. The unique structure of LK-99 that allows the minute distorted structure to be maintained in the interfaces is the most important factor that LK-99 maintains and exhibits superconductivity at room temperatures and ambient pressure.

Original Paper at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008

Ok, now why does this matter to us? Well this is a successful discovery/invention of a room temperature & pressure superconductor. This is kind of a world-changing discovery if it is reproduceable, and one of the many uses of a super conductor is as a battery. Charge it up instantly and it holds the charge without loss until it is drawn down. Of course this is a lab only tech for now, and it will no doubt be many years before it is practical in an industrial environment, but there it is a seriously dramatic. (it also has potential as a key component for quantum computers and a whole bunch of other technologies that currently use helium cooled superconductors - like nuclear reactors.

Also you can do cool levitation tricks with a superconductor suspended over a magnet which you can't do with a Li battery.

So even though it is probably a decade or more away from becoming a battery, it is clearly time for everyone to panic and sell all their Li shares now. For those boring people who are not prone to panic, it is kind of super interesting and potentially world changing anyway.

Next time someone trots out the old Hydrogen is the future meme you can now tell them how that is yesterday's tech and room temp superconductors are now where it is at and they just need to keep up with the times a bit better.