Posted on 03/31/2021 9:27:40 AM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists have made a massless structural battery 10 times better than before.
The battery cell performs well in structural and energy tests, with planned further improvements.
Structural batteries reduce weight and could revolutionize electric cars and planes.
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In groundbreaking new research, scientists have made a structural battery 10 times better than in any previous experiment.
What’s a structural battery, and why is it such a big deal? The term refers to an energy storage device that can also bear weight as part of a structure—like if the studs in your home were all batteries, or if an electric fence also held up a wall.
In the new paper, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden reveal how their “massless” structural battery works.
The main use case is for electric cars, where a literally massive amount of batteries take up a ton of room and don’t contribute to the actual structure of the car. In fact, these cars must be specially designed to carry the mass of the batteries. But what if the frame of the car could hold energy? “Due to their multifunctionality, structural battery composites are often referred to as ‘massless energy storage’ and have the potential to revolutionize the future design of electric vehicles and devices,” the researchers explain.
To make the new structural battery, the scientists layered a buffer glass “fabric” between a positive and negative electrode, then packed it with a space-age polymer electrolyte and cured it in the oven. What results is a tough, flat battery cell that conducts well and holds up to tensile tests in all directions.
The battery’s combined qualities (or “multifunctionality”) make it 10 times better than any previous massless battery—a project scientists have worked on since 2007.
Chalmers University of Technology writes in a press release:
“The battery has an energy density of 24 Wh/kg, meaning approximately 20 percent capacity compared to comparable lithium-ion batteries currently available. But since the weight of the vehicles can be greatly reduced, less energy will be required to drive an electric car, for example, and lower energy density also results in increased safety. And with a stiffness of 25 GPa, the structural battery can really compete with many other commonly used construction materials.” This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
The scientists say the next step is to improve the performance even more, replacing aluminum foil in the electrode with carbon fiber material and thinning out the separator. This could result in a battery that produces 75 Wh/kg of energy and 75 GPa of stiffness, setting more records for massless batteries and also greatly reducing their weight.
Besides electric cars, the study team mentions e-bikes, satellites, and laptops as technologies that could use massless batteries. There could be further applications that we don’t think of as electric at all today.
One of the most exciting potential uses is in aircraft, which scientists are struggling to turn electric because of the huge weight of existing battery tech. Regular airplanes as well as vertical take off and landing vehicles could turn electric by using massless batteries. They could even combine massless structural batteries with solar panels in order to store what they soak up for later use.
VIDEO AT LINK...........................
Just making the battery weigh less AND be a part of the structural integrity is a huge bonus for transportation vehicles, land, sea, or air.
I believe it is the 241st monthly announcement. This goes along with practical fusion electrical generation being just ten years away, but they only announce that annually.
So instead of changing the battery when it inevitably goes bad you throw away the car?
24 Whr/kg for this battery as opposed to 10615 Whr/for gasoline. Y'all can be impressed for me. I'll save being impressed until the energy density gets to be a whole lot greater then 0.22% of fossil fuel
Naw, ya jus replace the hood and bonnet cover. Might need to replace one or two of the alternators at the drive train, but that’s not much.
What happens if your structure, house or cat, gets crunched carrying a full charge?
Car. Not cat.
was that a scene from the attack of the killer tomatoes?
As an engineer this sounds like total bull crap
This is what I always say to the charlatans
OK you have a new revolutionary technology do you?
1- Send me a sample of your product
2- Do you have underwriter laboratories and other certifications?
3- What is the price point and availability of your product in the commercial marketplace?
Most charlatans can’t even get past step one
Example: nano solar technology
These clowns got $100 million in 2005 and we’re going to “revolutionize” the solar industry
They were fraud from the get-go are still frauds now and I’m still running into charlatans that are bilking out investors based on this bull crap
I got an argument with one of these charlatans in front of a rich guy and I said send me a sample of your product!
If you’re technology is so great if you’re going to take over the market be like any other solar panel company and send me a sample of your product
That’s simple enough right?
Just remember most everything you read is bull crap in the energy world
These are researchers looking for research grants ; they’re never going to produce any worthwhile products to humanity
When the “free energy” seminar guys used to come around and get people to pay to watch their seminar I would go up on stage and say the two following
1- Please state for me the second law of thermodynamics
2- I’ve got a 1 hp motor here - can I plug that into your free energy device?
It’s producing free energy right?
“I fully admit to not having read the piece, and I don’t intend to. It just doesn’t interest me that much. However the first thing that came to my mind was if the battery is part of the structure of the vehicle what happens when the battery wears out? I would also wonder what the repercussions of getting in a serious accident would be. People do wreck cars all the time”
For someone that didn’t read the article you asked good obvious questions.
We increasingly live in a disposable society. One option to the first question is to trash the device when the battery wears out.
Not sure about the 2nd question but I am sure one option is to just sue someone. :-)
re: “The Battery That Will Finally Unlock Massless Energy Storage”
NOT a primary energy source, unlike Brilliant Light Power’s SunCell Hydrino-producing reaction process ...
On the order of 1 gallon of gasoline would power a car across America using the Hydrogen to Hydrino ‘reaction’.
I once believed the hype several decades ago that fuel cells in every home were just around the corner.
You reminded me of the “free energy” clowns that put induction coils under high power transmission lines.
I wish everyone had electrical/electronics knowledge so that they could understand your brilliant statement.
Has ANYTHING Popular Mechanics has touted as the next big thing or as a breakthrough in the past EVER actually turned into any workable, usable commercial product. I’m still waiting for the flying cars.
Sounds good.
So you have a car or truck with the frame battery and you have a wreck that bends or breaks the frame....a common occurrence in a wreck.
Now you have a dead short and a dead short with batteries of that size means you have something similar to an electric welder out of control.
Fire, electrocution?
There are advantages to electric drives, but there are also problems.
In the beginning I hope that batteries are in a more protected area.
"studs in your home were all batteries"
Whatever.
I prefer fusion...
Know where I can get a Delorean?
5.56mm
“I will be rich when I finish my AC battery and monopole magnets.”
I’ll be rich when I figure out how Tesla managed to tap into and utilize the electromagnetic forces in our atmosphere or dead shortly thereafter.
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