(from
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html )
Stanford Report, December 18, 2007
Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones
BY DAN STOBER
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
> (from
> http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html )
> Stanford Report, December 18, 2007
> Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones
> BY DAN STOBER
> 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
You do realize that that means that a Tesla raodster could go up to 2500
miles on a single charge!
Wow!
Now maybe we can do something about automobile pollution, at least.
I know all about the percentages of pollution so don't get your geek in a
wad. But reducing (or eliminating) auto exhaust will definitely improve
local air quality and may even help cool cities off a couple of degrees in
the summer. Not to mention the new quiet engines.....
jim
I plan on buying two generators this year.
One stationary generator to power the house...using gasoline/diesel
and natural gas.
The other as a portable generator using gasoline.
I understand the need to size the generators for the respective loads
they will support.
What generators would you recommend and where to buy them?
Thanks
TMT
On 4 Jan, 19:04, radicalmoder...@attnn.com (RadicalModerate) wrote:
> > Now maybe we can do something about automobile pollution, at least.
> Replacing gas and Diesel engines with electric ones on a large scale is
> going to require massive investment in the electric generation and
> DISTRIBUTION infrastructure.
Not really. There's plenty of free capacity at night time.
Vehicle to Grid could actually reduce the amount of generation
capacity required, especially if wind energy is widely deployed.
> To get a "win" for air quality many more nuke plants will need to be
> built; coal plants simply shift the problem.
To some extent. EVs running on coal would provide a win compared to
inefficient petrol engines, but no compared to a high efficiency
diesel. Local pollution is of course greatly reduced and coal power
stations at least have the the potential for carbon capture.
> Yes I bet Wm. Mook is reading, however his solution is a few years off;
> nukes are here and now :) .
So is very wide scale deployment of electric cars. And I still can't
figure out why Wm Mook is trying to make hydrogen when he could just
stop at electricity.
XML site map
> http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html )
> Stanford Report, December 18, 2007
> Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones
> BY DAN STOBER
> 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