Batteries have been used for ages to power different types of appliances. Man cannot imagine life without batteries. The battery technology is bound to take a big leap in the future as scientists become more concerned with environmental issues. The major improvement aspects that the scientists are now considering include mobility, lifespan and efficiency.
Self healing batteries are paving way for next generation of long lasting batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other electronic devices. This is made from slicon microparticles that are widely used in the semiconductor and solar cell industry.
Self healing batteries are paving way for next generation of long lasting batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other electronic devices. This is made from slicon microparticles that are widely used in the semiconductor and solar cell industry.
A team of Harvard scientists and engineers has demonstrated a new type of battery that could fundamentally transform the way electricity is stored on the grid, making power from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar far more economical and reliable.The paper reports a metal-free flow battery that relies on the electrochemistry of naturally abundant, inexpensive, small organic (carbon-based) molecules called quinones, which are similar to molecules that store energy in plants and animals.
http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/01/organic-mega-flow-battery-promises-breakthrough-for-renewable-energy
Although batteries really provide great promise for future applications, huge leaps are unfortunately quite rare, at least when discussing battery energy density, since its very invention 200 years ago.
If you are interested in some aspects of automotive battery technology, you might find the link below to a paper prepared for the 33rd Vienna Motor Symposium helpful.
Conference Paper Vehicle Electrification - Quo Vadis? / Fahrzeugelektrifizier...
Researchers from Rice University, based in Houston, USA, claim the nanoribbons (consisting of a foam-like graphene lattice filled with vanadium oxide) can be used to make high-performance cathodes that capitalise on graphene’s excellent conductivity and vanadium’s ability to store lithium.This combination imbues the cathode with both high energy and high power density. Depending on their intended purpose, energy storage devices normally have only one of these two different properties, offering either long operation time or rapid energy dispensing. Li-ion batteries’ high energy density makes them perfect for smartphones, but slow ion and electron diffusion has previously hindered their use in applications such as electric vehicles that require a high power density. The Rice team claims that its nanoribbons could be used to improve the design of high power Li-ion batteries, as their structure allows fast diffusion of both lithium ions and electrons. The method makes use of the basic properties of both materials and the fact that they consist of atomically thin layers, says Dr Robert Vajtai, Faculty Fellow at Rice’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. ‘One of the advantageous properties of these materials is electronic. Sometimes it is catalytic, but often it’s for energy storage devices because they need a very high surface area. These materials, being only a few atoms thick, naturally have the highest surface area that you can make.’ The thin nature of the nanoribbons provides a short solid-state diffusion length for the lithium, something that Vajtai claims improves on current cathode materials. He explains that the 10nm thickness combined with the small pore size (one micron or less), ‘means that all the lithium ions that you bring into the vanadium oxide only need to travel a very short distance inside the electrolyte, increasing the speed of the device.’ Although vanadium pentoxide has previously been used for lithium-based energy storage, its initial promise as an electrode material was limited by its low electrical conductivity. Vajtai says that this was because the material was being used in macroscopic crystal form, a structure that differs dramatically in thickness and porosity. ‘Even a millimetre is really large compared to our nanostructure [which measures 10nm across], so if you have one Li-ion, it needs to travel 100,000 times further to charge or discharge that layer’
http://www.iom3.org/news/graphene-and-vanadium-unleash-lithium-power-advanced-li-ion-batteries
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