Print
Battery technology has long been considered the Achilles heal of modern gadgetry, but the smart folks over at Stanford may just be on track to solve the issue. A new battery type is in the works called "lithium-sulfur" which currently offers an 80 percent improvement in capacity over Li-ion, and promises a theoretical increase of up to 400 percent as the technology matures.
The catch, (yes there's always a catch), is that in its current state of development the battery becomes unusable after only 40 to 50 charge cycles. Li-ion by comparison can typically handle anywhere from 300 to 500 full discharges. This is a pretty major caveat, and likely means it will still be quite awhile before this starts getting commercialized.
The real breakthrough with lithium-sulfur is the silicon nanowire technology which has actually been experimented with by Stanford engineers since late 2007. The new batteries are being described not just as more powerful, but safer too. Of course it's not like batteries kill people right?
Comments are closed on this article
Keith E. Whisman
March 14, 2010 at 5:56pm
I can live with the short life if they are cheap. What I mean is if these batteries cost like $10 Dollars US for a pack 6 or even 4. But of course these are going to be for those custom cells that come in odd shapes for small devices. Still if the replacement is only like $10 bucks then I can handle buying a new battery every month or so for the privilege of having a battery that lets me run a laptop at full swing all day.
Besides what ever happened to the fuel cell batteries that were supposed to give us incredible operating capacities?
ponchato
March 14, 2010 at 3:06pm
Right now, with an increase of 80% over Li-ion batteries, the charge limit could be almost ignored in certain applications. I'm thinking long-range military and scientific instruments, remotely located temporary installations, etc. The charge limit would be a major crutch to consumer electronics, but in certain applications the charging capacity would more than easily make up for the charge limit.
I Jedi
March 14, 2010 at 1:39pm
How many times have I gone across the Intrerwebs to read about the next best battery tech. that is coming out? There are at least two articles a month about new battery improvements/inventions that I read, but somehow never seem to fully materialize into the main-stream market. Point and being, how many more times must we be subjected to hearing about vast improvements to battery life before we actually DO see these "amazing" improvments?
Mighty BOB!
March 14, 2010 at 2:37pm
True, but I think that unlike most of those other articles such as "tiny ultracapacitor hairs could mean instant charges!" or "nanotubes could increase capacity 300%!" articles, this seems like it is actually closer to maturing.
If they can work out the robustness to it will survive more charge cycles it sounds like a viable product, not just some recently discovered phenomenon of the molecular world that could theoretically offer advantages at some undefined time in the future.
nekollx
March 15, 2010 at 9:20am
I dunno if i like the idea of SULFER batteries, ignoreing the entire devil thing for a moment isn't sulfer like
HIGHLY COMBUSTIBLE?
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
bikerbub
March 15, 2010 at 1:55pm
the main anion is lithium, with the cation being sulfur, and together they form a non-metallic ion, that isn't as reactive chemically as lithium and is less flammable than sulfur.
nekollx
March 15, 2010 at 1:58pm
i figured as much but they still have to be combined, one dropped match in the factoy and well...
Nightcrawler would make less of a stink teleporting Congress.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
