Candace Chan.
Posted on 12/19/2007 5:29:22 PM PST by decimon
Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.
The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers.
"It's not a small improvement," Cui said. "It's a revolutionary development."
The breakthrough is described in a paper, "High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires," published online Dec. 16 in Nature Nanotechnology, written by Cui, his graduate chemistry student Candace Chan and five others.
The greatly expanded storage capacity could make Li-ion batteries attractive to electric car manufacturers. Cui suggested that they could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels.
"Given the mature infrastructure behind silicon, this new technology can be pushed to real life quickly," Cui said.
The electrical storage capacity of a Li-ion battery is limited by how much lithium can be held in the battery's anode, which is typically made of carbon. Silicon has a much higher capacity than carbon, but also has a drawback.
Silicon placed in a battery swells as it absorbs positively charged lithium atoms during charging, then shrinks during use (i.e., when playing your iPod) as the lithium is drawn out of the silicon. This expand/shrink cycle typically causes the silicon (often in the form of particles or a thin film) to pulverize, degrading the performance of the battery.
Cui's battery gets around this problem with nanotechnology. The lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. The nanowires inflate four times their normal size as they soak up lithium. But, unlike other silicon shapes, they do not fracture.
Research on silicon in batteries began three decades ago. Chan explained: "The people kind of gave up on it because the capacity wasn't high enough and the cycle life wasn't good enough. And it was just because of the shape they were using. It was just too big, and they couldn't undergo the volume changes."
Then, along came silicon nanowires. "We just kind of put them together," Chan said.
For their experiments, Chan grew the nanowires on a stainless steel substrate, providing an excellent electrical connection. "It was a fantastic moment when Candace told me it was working," Cui said.
Cui said that a patent application has been filed. He is considering formation of a company or an agreement with a battery manufacturer. Manufacturing the nanowire batteries would require "one or two different steps, but the process can certainly be scaled up," he added. "It's a well understood process."
Also contributing to the paper in Nature Nanotechnology were Halin Peng and Robert A. Huggins of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford, Gao Liu of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Kevin McIlwrath and Xiao Feng Zhang of the electron microscope division of Hitachi High Technologies in Pleasanton, Calif.
Do not = Does not
Bump for later
Incredible invention. hope government lets companies or him build it and mass produce this battery. I could make the electric car feasible along with toshiba's new battery that charges in 5 minutes : http://www.gizmag.com/toshiba-scib-super-charge-lithium-battery/8506/
Stanford is a private university.
Since when has the public owned anything? You mean government. Government is the only thing that can stop or ruin an invention like this. I’M glad this came from a private university. what I see coming out of public universities is global warming studies and other ridiculous studies.
your rhetoric “belongs to the public” sounds Marxist to me.
The implications for “womens devices” could be stunning!
If they avail themselves of the patent process, then it does indeed belong to the public. After the patent expires.
Thems the rules in the Constitution which, the last time I checked, is hardly the bastion of Marxist thought.
“Belongs to the public” is a collectivist idea.
I don’t care where it may be written .I’m an individualist. You or the government or the collective (Public) has nothing to do with me or how I live my life.
Most inventions and technological advancements have been done by individuals and private companies seeking patents not by a collective.
compare the efficieny of Toshiba, Best Buy,Wal Mart, Intel, UPS,Dell with that of your government schools collective, or the USSR collective or the Cuba collective.
“Belongs to the public” is a collectivist idea.
I don’t care where it may be written .I’m an individualist. You or the government or the collective (Public) has nothing to do with me or how I live my life.
Most inventions and technological advancements have been done by individuals and private companies seeking patents not by a collective.
compare the efficiency of Toshiba, Best Buy,Wal Mart, Intel, UPS,Dell with that of your government schools collective, or the USSR collective or the Cuba collective.
Candace Chan.
Eeesh. I loathed it. Heinlein at his worst: obsessive about the preparation of breakfast, and a ridiculous story line -- you can almost watch those rusty gears turning.... "Hmmmm, let's see. We've had breakfast, now we need money. I know! I'll have her win the lottery!"
Feh.
If you ask the government to guarantee you a monopoly on the use of your invention then they get to tell you that at the end of the monopoly period you have to release it to the public.
That's how a patent works.
Of course, you are free to produce your product and not patent it, but if the guy down the street uses your idea and starts selling it don't go to the government whining and crying.
Belongs to the public? what public?
Only a handful of PRIVATE companies in the world seem to have to technological and manufactoring expertise to manufacture on e of these batteries. It is they who would manufacture it after the patent expires not any public , collective, government as they can’t even if they wanted to.
I have more to reply on this later.
No, this is real, or at least the intent is. I know some people who are working on this. The batteries would probably have to be extremely high voltage to store enough energy to make it feasible.
Belongs to the public? what public?
Only a handful of PRIVATE companies in the world seem to have the technological and manufactoring expertise needed to manufacture one of these batteries in a feasible manner for it to work in many appliances. It is they who would manufacture it after the patent expires not any public, collective, or government as they could never even if they wanted to try such a thing because they are idiots.
I have more to reply on this later.
Not his best, but a fun romp. Bashing the Scientologists constantly was funny, as was the novel twist on “corporate war.”
Actually you have to release it to the public in the beginning. You can just charge royalties until the end of the monopoly.
Geezer Geek? I darn near qualify! Add me to your list please...
Cui bono?
Anyone looking for a energy weapon. I'd imagine a maser with one of these batteries and a capacitor setup for a few shots could work pretty well.
You are now on the Geezer Geek ping list.
Friday was one of my favorites, and ‘Boss’ as well as her ‘primary genetic donors’ were characters revived from one of his earliest and best short stories.
Friday was RAH’s last book that I liked without reservation.
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