Prolific MIT materials professor develops a clean power source for airplanes made from … table salt?

Professor Yet-Ming Chiang of MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and his colleagues have developed a sodium-air fuel cell that “packs three to four times more energy per pound than common lithium-ion batteries,” reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. The technology, now being prototyped by Cambridge startup Propel Aero for use in a large drone, could one day serve as “a potentially groundbreaking clean power source for airplanes.” Chiang told Pressman the system could eventually enable passenger flights of up to 300 miles, though FAA certification will take time: “That’s obviously the hardest part,” he said.

Read the full story in The Boston Globe.