Super-powered battery breakthrough claimed by US team (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Leo Kelion
Technology reporter

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.

Details of the research are published in the journal Nature Communications.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22191650
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2747.html



Maybe these guys should look up the process by which tantalum capacitors are made ... no polymer spheres needed, and the problem of short circuits seems to be managable. (Of course, they may have been inspired by this process to create the new battery.)

[DJ13]

1. "However, safety issues still remain"

[Tempest]

2. Damn. And I just bought new eneloop batteries. n/t

[Posteritatis]

6. There really is a whole lot of kaboom in that sentence, isn't there? (nt)

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. All the massive ramifications for green cars etc. aside...

JUST to be able to plug in my smart phone and get a few weeks use without charging it again - priceless.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. I don't think it stores more energy

I believe it just pumps it out faster, when needed.

[sofa king]

5. Sigh.

Let me just mark this with the last time I snidely dismissed such a story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3779253&mesg_id=3779334

I have been terribly remiss in snidely dismissing such stories. Let us take a moment to note the amazing battery breakthroughs of years past which have given us our flying cars, magnetically levitated mass transit, and laptops that can play a 3-hour film off the charger:

2012:

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/battery-breakthrough-technology-promises-triple-lithium-ion-capacity/
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2012/mar/08/graphene-in-new-battery-breakthrough

2011:

http://grist.org/list/2011-06-08-no-joke-this-is-the-biggest-battery-breakthrough-ever/
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/1121/Battery-breakthrough-could-keep-smart-phones-charged-for-an-entire-week

2010:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/lightweight-lithium-air-batteries/
http://www.treehugger.com/cars/5-battery-breakthroughs-that-could-one-day-power-electric-cars.html

2009:

http://www.gizmag.com/lithium-ion-battery-breakthrough-mit/11244/
http://arstechnica.com/science/2009/03/lithium-breakthrough-could-charge-batteries-in-10-seconds/
http://www.udri.udayton.edu/News/2009/Pages/BatteryBreakthrough!.aspx

2008:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2008/01/18/4350458-a-revolution-in-batteries?lite

2007:

http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v2/n10/full/nnano.2007.318.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22240865/ns/us_news-environment/t/breakthrough-battery-could-boost-electric-cars/#.UXA9F8rqfFg

2006:

http://web-japan.org/trends/science/sci060119.html
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/09/ceramic_battery.html