L-ion with 10X the capacity!!!

[DM51]

After rereading the scientific paper seems its a wonder ordinary lithiums work so well. They point out how the charge/drain cycle breaks up -crumbles- the guts of the lithium cell thus reducing the paths for electrons to flow. All they're doing is adding billions of new paths with a 'forest' of nano-wires. Agree it seems fragile but we can get our hopes up.

I agree. I wish I understood the nano-scale physics of it better, but if I did, I would probably be making some $$$ out of it! All power to the guys working on this – it must be fascinating work, and one day it will benefit everyone.

Is there a maximum capacity for a given size of battery in a similar way there's a maximum efficacy for LEDs?

As things stand, there is a vast amount of wasted space and only partially efficient and active material inside cells. Nano-technology could go a long way to addressing this, but as you can see from the pics posted above, there is a still huge amount of wasted space – it is like a bad hair day inside there.

If the space could be better utilised in a much more efficient way, so that each and every tightly-packed molecule inside a cell could release a single electron (or 2, or even more) on demand, in the form of electrical energy, the potential capacity would be mind-boggling. I don't know the figures on that, but in theory it would be HUGE.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Story was just Slashdotted last night to this other article. Just an FYI

 

[orbital]

+

Google results for [SIZE=-1]silicon nanowire advance[/SIZE]: (results may vary on search, try a couple times)

http://news.google.com/nwshp?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tab=wn&ned=us&ncl=1126375987&hl=en&topic=t

..Bring on an 8hr 14500 light!!....

 

[hopkins]

Hope this isn't some tease scam.
I want to believe it'll happen and its
possible some us CPF members have that missing piece of the puzzle
that will help Yi Ciu to scale this idea from his lab to the battery aisle at
wal-mart. :thinking:

Fingers are crossed!

 

[refractrfractal]

Yahoo headlines has it now:

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nf/57832

(cpf site is insanely slow today. I keep timing out. anybody know why?)

Assuming it works as described, imagine a little button cell powering a 200 lumen keychain light, AAA sized cells with more capacity than an 18650, an electric car battery 80% smaller/lighter with twice the capacity!

...and today's cell phones looking as big and clunky in 2015 as the monster lead-acid battery phones of the 80s look today. A fully functional laptop that you shrug over your shoulders like a warm shirt, with a flexible thigh keyboard built into yr pants and the viewscreen projecting through yr glasses. The mouse? Well...um, we'll think of something

Brave new world, here we go.

 

[ixfd64]

Oh geez, I want the AA/AAA/CR123/18650 version of this.

 

[hopkins]

And there may be a dark side to a 10X Li-ion battery. We may see
news stories like -person drops cellphone. person picks up cellphone and
places in pocket. Cell phone vents with flame. person recovering in
hospital. Doctors could not save fingers that pulled cellphone
out of pocket... yuck!
Sorry I should really stop reading stephen king novels...:candle:

On the up side I bet you could start a campfire real fast by smashing
a 10X li-ion cell with a rock and adding tinder in an emergency.

 

[jtr1962]

Is there a maximum capacity for a given size of battery in a similar way there's a maximum efficacy for LEDs?

A lot of this is chemistry dependent as well as volume dependent. We may be able to get up to a 10X increase in capacity by making more efficient use of the space. We may invent new chemistries based on new compounds which could make today's cells seem like a joke. Suppose we discover chemical reactions which liberate 100 times the energy of lithium-ion cells. Combine that with nanotechnology, and suddenly you have a 1000 amp-hour CR123s. There is one downside, however. Imagine you feel this battery getting ready to vent or otherwise give up all its energy in a big hurry. That's 10+ megajoules which want to all come out at once. Now you have to throw it with all your might into an empty field, and then run like hell to get away from the mushroom cloud (like the scene in T2 where one of the Terminator's power cells ruptured). oo:

 

[TorchBoy]

A lot of this is chemistry dependent as well as volume dependent.

Depending on your semantics, it's not volume dependent for a given size of battery. :thumbsup:

 

[dealgrabber2002]

I don't think it's a scam or hype. I think I saw a video on youtube that explained the process or how it work. But the guy (chinese) english was quite bad and I am not that smart to continue to understand what he was explaining... So back to Naruto!

-E

 

[Illum]

I just hope it doesn't when you poke at it