Silicon, the new Lithium?

[gallonoffuel]

Thought the users in this subforum might be interested in this:

http://www.mnn.com/technology/gadgets-electronics/blogs/silicon-the-new-lithium

 

[Illum]

Pure silicon is like lead, your going to need alot of prodding for it to react with anything...lithium however, reacts quite happily without any coercing

 

[ltiu]

I heard of ultra capacitor batteries that can hold a charge and are rechargeable. I wonder where those went?

 

[Elliot]

I read something about this last week. They mentioned something about a possible 30% in capacity over todays Li-ion cells; sometime in the next five to 10 years. Then they threw in "nano technology" to keep the potential investors happy.

 

[Chrontius]

I heard of ultra capacitor batteries that can hold a charge and are rechargeable. I wonder where those went?

Right here. Problem is for all their charging speed, they're bulky for the energy they store.

 

[Kestrel]

I read something about this last week. They mentioned something about a possible 30% in capacity over todays Li-ion cells; sometime in the next five to 10 years. Then they threw in "nano technology" to keep the potential investors happy.

LOL. Unfortunately in 5-10 years LiIons will have 40% more capacity, right?

 

[Justin Case]

Pure silicon is like lead, your going to need alot of prodding for it to react with anything...lithium however, reacts quite happily without any coercing

They focused on n-type Si (though they also tested heavily doped p-type) to build a working cell. A possible issue is that the working voltage was a little low at 1.0V-1.2V.

 

[Apollo Cree]

Lithium batteries tend to have a high energy density because the atoms of lithium are small and light. You usually only get one or two usable electrons per atom of the anode or cathode in a battery. You can stuff more atoms of lithium in a particular space or weight than you can with elements with a higher atomic number.