Breakthrough on battery life?
New research might have discovered engineering that could significantly increase the efficiency of the batteries we use.
This is where Mya Le Thai’s magic gel comes in. Typically, a Lithium Ion battery can go through between 5000 and 7000 recharge cycles before it dies and will also gradually lose its energy storage capacity over time. When researchers applied Thai’s plexiglass-like gel to gold nanowires in a manganese dioxiode shell, it increased that number to over 200,000 and the battery didn’t lose any of its power or storage capacity over a period of three months.
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New research might have discovered engineering that could significantly increase the efficiency of the batteries we use.
This is where Mya Le Thai’s magic gel comes in. Typically, a Lithium Ion battery can go through between 5000 and 7000 recharge cycles before it dies and will also gradually lose its energy storage capacity over time. When researchers applied Thai’s plexiglass-like gel to gold nanowires in a manganese dioxiode shell, it increased that number to over 200,000 and the battery didn’t lose any of its power or storage capacity over a period of three months.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Right….Been hearing that story for the last 50 yrs.. Park it next to flying cars. SST. Rosie the Robot, Tube Travel, Moon Bases, Food synthesizers , jet packs, anti grav , free energy , et al…
And , of course , fusion power
As the article says: It will most probably be quite some time before we see this discovery in commercial action, though.
Gotta go with Orion314 on this, I’ll only believe it when I see it in an actual battery I can purchase. I’ve seen far too many articles like this over the last 40 years. Batteries have indeed gotten better since the 70’s, but it’s been a long slow process compared with other technologies.
The paper describing the results is here:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00029
I will stick with either Nickel Iron or Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for my big projects. Trendy new technologies always have problems in the beginning. Case in point, when NiMH batteries became easily available I bought a few since they had roughly twice the storage capacity of my NiCad. Every single one of them died within a year of purchase and the Nicads, to this day (~15 years) still work. Even today, I buy NIMH’s for some projects but the cell failure rate it astounding.
Nickel Iron on the other hand is a very old technology and has a superb cycle life when properly maintained, some have lasted 70 years. Seventy Years. Granted they are large and heavy, with about three times the capacity of a lead acid battery for their mass, putting them below NiCads in terms of energy density, but their longevity and robust construction make them a much better investment for stationary projects or even electric vehicles.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFe), like it’s Lithium Ion brothers has a very high energy density. While LiFe’s have somewhat less of a storage capacity then then Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer, their best selling point is that unlike either of these two popular chemistries, LiFe’s don’t explode when shorted, punctured or heated, making them ideal for high current applications. I frankly find it mystifying why Mr. Musk isn’t looking into this technology, especially considering those unsightly garage fires.
Anyway, enough sounding like a battery commercial. Just wanted to share my insights into the technology and express a healthy skepticism about this “Magic goo.” My skepticism is not that it works or not, I’m sure that it does, likely because the goo is increasing the surface area within the battery. My skepticism is aimed rather at whether this technology will be embraced. The battery companies already have a product that makes them a lot of money, they aren’t going to invest in something new unless they can make more money then it would cost to retool.
The magic word in this new tech is Nano.
As far as I know we have no way of manufacturing anything Nana on an industrial scale.
Efficiency? I think you mean affordability