Stanford researchers develop super long-lasting Lithium-Ion battery
By Will Park on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 AM PST In Announcements, Technologies
While wireless-charging solutions and hydrogen fuel cells are still on the horizon, Stanford researchers have just come across a breakthrough in battery technology that’s available today. We’d love to have our mobile phone charge while in our pocket, or have our fuel cells topped off at the nearest hydrogen charger, but alas, those technologies have yet to even come close to hitting the mainstream. For now we’ll have to deal with the best that current tech has to offer – the Lithium-Ion battery.
The engineering geeks at Stanford have come up with a way to extend the capacity of current Li-ION batteries by ten times. Repeat – that’s ten times longer battery life from the same battery!
The new tech promises to boost a cellphone’s 4 hour battery life to 40 hours of uptime – an incredible feat in any book. The research team leader, Yi Cui, has already filed a patent application and hope to get battery manufacturers to adopt his new technology.
“It’s not a small improvement,” Cui said. “It’s a revolutionary development.”
Lithium-ION batteries are limited by how many ions can be stored on the battery’s anode, which is usually made of carbon. Cui has replaced the carbon anode with silicon to achieve the boost in capacity. His approach uses silicon stored in nanowire tubes that resist fracturing as the silicon swells and shrinks in proportion to the ion-load.
Let’s hope this tech hits the mainstream sooner than later. Who wouldn’t pay a couple more bucks for a a ten-fold increase in battery life?
[Via: Nanotechwire]
Are the explosions going to be ten times bigger as well?
Couple more bucks, according to whom?
LOL@Andrew
As far as the cost of the new tech, it stands to reason that the new batteries will cost a bit more. The new tech will require “one or two different steps” but once manufacturing ramps up and economies of scale come into play, the cost increase should be reasonable.
I obviously didnt mean that the new battery will cost $2 more – but it WILL cost more. I’d happily pay 30-50% more in battery costs in exchange for a 10 fold increase in capacity.
Good to see some progress with batteries too. I’m happy to pay extra, but only with really high end phones…thought that’s probally what they are for.
This seems to be exactly what the mobile technology market needs right now, not only will it mean you’re not charging it every night but they can put bigger and badder processors on the phones so we have no excuse for phones that clunk from one screen to another and take 30 seconds to load up my message inbox.
And still I expect we won’t see this tech until around 2011 (seriously).
Lithium Li-ion Battery Technology Innovation -
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There are technologies available now that could have a major impact on improving both the performance and safety of lithium cells. Indeed, there is technology available now that would at minimum virtually solve the safety problem. Trouble is most of the current investment in batteries is in the Far East – China and Japan – not the United States. So while the United States is a leader in technological innovation for batteries, the commercialization of these technologies is slow because of the battery industry structure.
Now we have indications early 2008 of a new world oil price / supply crisis providing more evidence that safe batteries of sufficient power and capacity for electric vehicles – HEV and EV – is needed urgently. But existing lithium technology, that is conventional Li-ion cells, is a zero tolerance technology. Without US led innovation hand-in-hand with investment in these batteries we have a significant problem the resolution for which is unclear.
TRU Group Inc – Lithium Consultants
trugroup.com
Don’t forget it may require ten times longer to charge up as well!
You don’t get something for nothing!
That is true but I’m sure most of us get home after work and imediately throw our phones on the charger and I’m sure most of us (even though we know we aren’t supposed to) keep our phones on the charger over night. So this would maake a bad habit into something useful rather then just harmful to our batteries.
I know I’m one to put my phone on the charger all night even though I tell other people not to do it. lol. I forget sometimes…mosttimes…ok, everytime!