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
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