Super-powered battery breakthrough claimed by US team

[muriel_volestrangler]

A new type of battery has been developed which its creators say could revolutionise the way we power consumer electronics and vehicles.

The University of Illinois team says its use of 3D-electrodes allows it to build "microbatteries" that are many times smaller than commercially available options, or the same size and many times more powerful.

It adds they can be recharged 1,000 times faster than competing tech.

However, safety issues still remain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22191650

[longship]

1. Here's video of last time they tested recharge.

Sorry. Couldn't resist your comment on safety issues.

I'd love to see this work out. Nano structures and batteries seem to be a good fit. Only problem is how long they last.

I love science posts.

R&K

[Auntie Bush]

2. LOL

[freethought]

3. Ok! Great! But,

can these batteries be scaled up to run something like an electric car? They may have created something in the lab but can that thing be massed produced on an industrial scale? What about the cost?

I don't like to be naysayer when it comes to the potential for moving us into electric cars but just because they accomplished something in the lab does not mean it can be applied real world?

[OnlinePoker]

4. It's the same for all of these "breakthrough" announcements

Works in the lab, but until they can scale it up, it isn't worth much. But scaling up costs money, and I think this is the reason for these types of announcements...to bring in the cash to try and get there.

[madokie]

5. The knowledge gained by this

is what its worth. Make no mistake about that.
Just because it may not be capable of being scaled up to manufacturing levels does not take away from what this discovery gives us.

[FBaggins]

6. You're absolutely right.

Most technological advances suffer from the same concerns in their research stages. Back in the days of vacuum tubes (not so many decades ago) nobody would have thought that we would be able to mass-produce processors on a 10 nm scale and sell hundreds of millions of them... but we will in just a few years.

The science comes first - commercial viability is down the road (perhaps with an entirely different model). As you imply, the science has value even if it doesn't pan out. If nothing else it points others in the right direction (or away from one of many wrong ones)

High capacity to weight combined with rapid charge/discharge is the holy grail of storage. It could change almost everything. If they can get it to work, people will eventually find a way to make it profitable.

[Yo_Mama]

7. Great point

This is how science and engineering work together - the more possibilities you find, the more eventual practical solutions you will develop. It's relatively rare to have "one-step" breakthroughs.

[madokie]

8. For each ounce of discovery

there is pounds of knowledge gained.