Stanford researcher claims lithium ion breakthrough
Stanford University Materials Science Asst. Prof Yi Cui had developed what is claimed to provide a breakthrough in electrical energy storage. Instead of having an anode comprised of a solid mass of silicon and carbon, Cui and his research team have developed one based on a bundle of silicon nanowires. The limiting factor of traditional designs is that the as the silicon absorbs the lithium ions during charging, it swells and then contracts during discharge. Over time this causes the anode to crack, reducing the battery's capacity. The work done by companies like Altairnano and A123 is based on the same principle of using nano-sized materials that can absorb the lithium ions and have room to expand. Cui is claiming his nanowire design can improve the battery storage capacity by a factor of ten. The photo above shows an anode before and after charging at the same magnification.
[Source: Stanford News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 4:57PM (12/19/2007)
"Cui is claiming his nanowire design can improve the battery storage capacity by a factor of ten."
He's either a genius or a vicious tease.
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Rick 5:35PM (12/19/2007)
I wonder if that's a factor of 10 of a Li Battery or a Lead acid battery?
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Robert Kirsten 6:22PM (12/19/2007)
Has to be 10x li-ion
Energy Density of standard 1i-ion is close to 10x lead acid already.
Energy Density MJ/kg
commercial lead acid battery pack 0.072-0.079
lithium ion battery 0.54-0.72
source: wikipedia
Let's hope Professor Cui has the goods.
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BlackbirdHighway 6:27PM (12/19/2007)
So, the Tesla has a range now of over 200 miles, with these, over 2000 miles?
Or maybe a range of 500 miles, with a much lighter battery pack, and even faster acceleration?
Sounds good!
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Domenick 6:49PM (12/19/2007)
It's very early days for this anode chemistry. From what I read, there hasn't been very much cycle testing yet. It does show that huge advances in battery tech are possible though.
Here's another battery that would be amazing if it comes to fruition.
http://www.polyplus.com/technology/laircell.htm
The future is electric.
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why not the LS2/LS7? 9:10PM (12/19/2007)
Kirsten:
Energy per kg isn't quite actually density, it's energy for mass. Lead acid batteries do okay per unit volume, although not as well as LIon.
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Steve 9:58PM (12/19/2007)
I think this could be the big one! And it's a scientist at a university, not some secretive company looking for investors, which makes ALL the difference.
Could it be? Could this be the discovery to usher in the electric automotive age?
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MikeInNC 8:24AM (12/20/2007)
Please let this be the real thing. Oh please (fingers crossed).
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The inconvenient treehugger 9:45AM (12/20/2007)
Sounds excellent. I am also hoping this to be true.
The same tech that goes into EV batteries could be maybe used to build power storage stations? Would it be feasible and needed for the EV era? A replacement for a present gas station that charges the storage batteries (cheaply) during the off-peak hours from the grid and then charges the EVs with a higher price (you need to pay a bit more for getting your battery topped up in 10 mins anyway). But then again this won´t work if people can charge the EVs from a standard socket within minutes anyway...
But these stations would good for meeting the peak electricity demands during winter: as we could start replacing those high emission back-up power plants using brown coal etc. I am sure this is not a new idea.
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Dave 10:48AM (12/20/2007)
"But then again this won´t work if people can charge the EVs from a standard socket within minutes anyway..."
Not gonna happen.
Best case scenario (100% efficient, no battery charge speed limitations):
A 110 volt 30 amp socket yields 3.3 kw. So it takes about two and a half hours to deliver the 8 kw*hr charge in a Chevy Volt.
Of course, if you live in Europe (or you use a USA 220 volt dryer/oven outlet), it would take 1/2 as long. But thats still an hour and 15 minutes.
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Tim 1:02PM (12/20/2007)
This battery race is just beginning! Hold on, there will be rapid acceleration during this race to electrification. “Laws” will be broken, new laws will be discovered and the once impossible will become commonplace!
We ain’t seen nothing yet…
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russellgeister 4:46AM (12/27/2007)
is it not funny how history repeats is self when cars were first developed the same fight was on to see what kind of power plants would be dominant petrol won over steam and electricity and here we are again its going to be a battle between fuel cells hydrogen vs ev's i think ev's will win why because hydrogen will never be made cheaply and any way fuel cells are ten to 15 years behind battery r&d they may work but the sheer reacouces required to make both them and there fuel are beyond the current economic scale where as ev's are only i beleave to be a decade away maybe sooner its only the batteries holding things up but sson my fiends very soon they will be with us and when the major automotive players and power generators see there potential and see the light the the infernal combustion engine will be consigned the the pages of history and a long with it fuel cells as an interesting if not strange experiment
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