Stanford Improves Lithium Battery Design

The short of it:

Lithium Ion batteries (what's in your cell phones, tablets, good cordless power tools) could improve in the near future by a new design from Stanford University. This increase will be about 10X and the batteries will maintain 97% capacity after 1000 charges.

Current designs are based on graphite. Silicon can store much more energy, but breaks down when charging. Nano-particles are too small to break down, so tiny clusters of silicon will be encased in very small carbon shells which will allow expansion and contraction during charging. This idea is apparently "pomegranate (fruit) seed inspired".

http://phys.org/news/2014-02-pomegra...ries.html#nRlv

Not to downplay on the achievement at all as I believe improvements in battery life should be the #1 priority for Cell phones/tablets/other electronics right now (the ppi and cpu core arms race is getting a little silly), I feel like I'm constantly reading about improvements to battery tech but none of them actually make it to market. :(

I don't whether it's due to lack of commercial viability or perhaps lack of motivations by battery companies (lasting longer batteries = less batteries sold maybe?) but battery technology in mainstream products has been incredibly stagnant. Often the only solution for better battery life is to stick a larger, heavier battery into it. Call me jaded but I remain skeptical until one of these innovations actually makes it to market.

I believe the number one priority of cell phones should be to fuck right off.:)

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Originally Posted by Rart

Not to downplay on the achievement at all as I believe improvements in battery life should be the #1 priority for Cell phones/tablets/other electronics right now (the ppi and cpu core arms race is getting a little silly), I feel like I'm constantly reading about improvements to battery tech but none of them actually make it to market. :(

I don't whether it's due to lack of commercial viability or perhaps lack of motivations by battery companies (lasting longer batteries = less batteries sold maybe?) but battery technology in mainstream products has been incredibly stagnant. Often the only solution for better battery life is to stick a larger, heavier battery into it. Call me jaded but I remain skeptical until one of these innovations actually makes it to market.

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You could be very much correct on this. Corporations are known to purchase copyrights to ideas then make sure they never see the light of day. Just another reason I have grown to %#@@$^& hate corporations and their mentalities.

I pay attention to these things on both small electronic scales and large renewable energy scales. That's not only because I'm a useless consumer, but I am an electrochemist (for those of you wondering exactly what type of anal I like).

Anyways, some comments

Battery technology has been constantly improving, but it only seems stagnant because the power requirements of small devices keep increasing (so we see similar lifetimes). If battery technology wasn't keeping up, modern devices wouldn't last a day of average use, i.e., if they were still using the battery technology of several years back.

Additionally, these breakthroughs of research are not comprehensive of the entire implementation of a battery system. The results need to be reliably reproduced and work has to be done on the complementary electrodes and electrolyte as well as chipping; that's all with respect to a specific form factor. Don't forget we have a lot of different types of batteries. Anyways, that shit takes time, and it's best to just ignore it until it silently hits the markets. It will usually be silent because commercial ventures don't typically reach the same performance levels bragged by researchers.

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Originally Posted by mjmacky

Battery technology has been constantly improving, but it only seems stagnant because the power requirements of small devices keep increasing (so we see similar lifetimes).

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Aren't the new chips of each generation being marketed as more efficient? Haswell, Apple A7, Qualcomm Snapdragon, etc. were all marketed as being more power efficient than previous generations as power efficiency seemed to be the new craze with all the portable electronics these days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rart

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjmacky

Battery technology has been constantly improving, but it only seems stagnant because the power requirements of small devices keep increasing (so we see similar lifetimes).

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Aren't the new chips of each generation being marketed as more efficient? Haswell, Apple A7, Qualcomm Snapdragon, etc. were all marketed as being more power efficient than previous generations as power efficiency seemed to be the new craze with all the portable electronics these days.

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More efficient processing, but more cores and more more operations. Higher resolution screens, bigger screens outputting more light, more radio signals, etc. They basically keep pushing up against the battery's limits. If you could place in a device a battery that has 10 times capacity, half the thickness, and much reduced charging time, and all of that while still providing necessary wattage, you'll see a new generation of devices with drastic, rather than incremental, performance boosts.

Thank you that was very informative.:)

Batteries are revolutionizing the auto industry as well.

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Originally Posted by megabyteme

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rart

Not to downplay on the achievement at all as I believe improvements in battery life should be the #1 priority for Cell phones/tablets/other electronics right now (the ppi and cpu core arms race is getting a little silly), I feel like I'm constantly reading about improvements to battery tech but none of them actually make it to market. :(

I don't whether it's due to lack of commercial viability or perhaps lack of motivations by battery companies (lasting longer batteries = less batteries sold maybe?) but battery technology in mainstream products has been incredibly stagnant. Often the only solution for better battery life is to stick a larger, heavier battery into it. Call me jaded but I remain skeptical until one of these innovations actually makes it to market.

---

You could be very much correct on this. Corporations are known to purchase copyrights to ideas then make sure they never see the light of day. Just another reason I have grown to %#@@$^& hate corporations and their mentalities.

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I remember, I had a Nokia 6310i, and so, initially, the battery held a charge at least in 7 days and within 15 years (!) of lifespan in 3 days. Modern batteries for smartphones hold a charge at most for about 36 hours (in economy mode). Of course, this is very beneficial for manufacturers and sellers, because they can additionally sell you Power Bank.

P. S.: Is out there a smartphone that could live 15 years, even upon condition of delicate handling?

P. P. S.: My phone was manufactured in Finland. Battery made in Japan.