The continuous development of batteries has now brought into focus an air-fueled battery. This new technology promises to provide 10 times more power, a piece of good news that should entice people to worry less about the impending entry of electric cars.

The new idea the researchers are examining is to replace the lithium cobalt oxide electrode in today’s rechargeable lithium batteries with a porous carbon electrode. This allows lithium ions and electrons in the cell to react instead with oxygen in the ambient air.

The best part is yet to come. This early, if developments of this new air-fuelled batteries push through could also mean lesser cost in getting one. Apparently this should be something that motorists can look forward to as they try to balance their finances with due consideration for the economy and environment.

While this research began only two years ago, experts predict that this new battery called the STAIR cell may be out within the next five years.

(Source) Cnet

Tags: ambient air, carbon electrode, cobalt oxide, continuous development, due consideration, economy, electric cars, electrons, impending entry, lithium, lithium ions, motorists, new technology, next five years, oxygen, porous carbon, rechargeable lithium batteries

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It looks like a new kind of technology aimed at the electric car industry is on the horizon and they come in the form of Nanoball batteries. Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of MIT have improved the design of a “nanoball battery,” which has a cathode that is composed of nanosized balls of lithium iron phosphate. As the battery charges, the nanoballs release lithium ions that travel across an electrolyte to the anode. As the battery discharges, the opposite occurs, and the lithium ions are reabsorbed by the nanoballs in the cathode.

The key to the nanoball battery’s quick charge time is the speed at which the lithium iron phosphate nanoballs in the cathode can release and absorb lithium ions. In conventional lithium ion batteries, detaching the ions from the normal cathode takes a relatively long time. By coating each nanoball with a thin layer of lithium phosphate, Kang and Ceder showed that they could detach the lithium ions from the nanoballs even quicker than previous studies have found.

To demonstrate the technology, the researchers fabricated a small battery that could be fully charged or discharged in 10 to 20 seconds, which would otherwise have taken six minutes. The scientists’ tests showed that the new material degrades less than other battery materials after repeated charges and discharges. This means that the battery could be made with less material, which could possibly lead to smaller, lighter batteries.

(Source) Physorg

Tags: battery materials, car industry, cathode, electric car, electrolyte, iron phosphate, lithium, lithium ion batteries, lithium ions

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