Lithium batteries charge ahead

[kpete]

Source: Nature

Published online 11 March 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.156

Lithium batteries charge ahead

Researchers demonstrate cells that can power up in seconds.

Two researchers have developed battery cells that can charge up in less time than it takes to read the first two sentences of this article. The work could eventually produce ultra-fast power packs for everything from laptop computers to electric vehicles.

Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have found a way to get a common lithium compound to release and take up lithium ions in a matter of seconds. The compound, which is already used in the electrodes of some commercial lithium-ion batteries, might lead to laptop batteries capable of charging themselves in about a minute. The work appears in Nature1 this week.

Lithium-ion batteries are commonplace in everything from mobile phones to hybrid vehicles. "They're essentially devices that move lithium ions between electrodes," says Ceder. The batteries generate an electric current when lithium ions flow out from a storage electrode, float through an electrolyte, and are chemically bound inside the opposing cathode. To recharge the battery, the process is reversed: lithium ions are ripped from the cathode compound and sent back to be trapped in their anode store.

The speed at which a battery can charge is limited by how fast its electrons and ions can move - particularly through its electrodes. Researchers have boosted these rates by building electrodes from nanoparticle clumps, reshaping their surfaces, and using additives such as carbon. But for most lithium-ion batteries, powering up still takes hours: in part because the lithium ions, once generated, move sluggishly from the cathode material to the electrolyte.

Read more: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090311/full/news.2009.156.html

[JayMusgrove]

1. Fascinating and encouraging! Thanks for this

Of course, moving this research to general production could take a few years, but it would certainly make electric vehicles more desirable, and less taxing on the electric grid, as the article pointed out. Not to mention that short bursts of charge to home devices like computers, outdoor lighting, cell phones, even remote controls, and flashlights, would all be advantageous.

Advances in battery technology, and battery production is the key to combating high energy costs.

[sofa king]

2. Ah yes, the semi-annual "battery breakthrough" article.

Soon to be followed by stories on infinite data compression and flying cars.

[Javaman]

3. And Bolivia kicked out our diplomat.

kinda hard to make lith batts without Bolivia.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090310/usa/us_bolivia_diplomacy_congress

[murielm99]

4. There is money in the stimulus package for research on

lithium batteries. I can't remember the amount.

My congressman, a republican, complained about it at a recent town hall meeting. He is too stupid to see how this research could benefit his constituents in the future.

These batteries could go into cars at an assembly plant in our district. People could get their jobs back.