Battery Technology

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is working on lithium-air batteries that could help in generating more powerful, lightweight batteries than available currently. Yang Shao-Horn is an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering. According to him many research groups are trying to improve on lithium-air batteries. But they have difference of opinions about the types of electrode materials to be used. It has to be noted that electrode materials are responsible for electrochemical reactions happening inside these batteries. View Comments

The researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have uncovered a new phenomenon of carbon nanotubes. They found that carbon nanotubes discharge powerful waves of electricity under certain circumstances. MIT team named it as thermopower waves. They are pinning their hope on thermopower waves to produce electricity to be utilized in small electrical appliances or maybe in large-scale applications too. This project was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the US National Science Foundation (NSF). View Comments

Yi Cui, an engineer at Stanford University, leads a team that may take nanotechnology to the next level by creating paper batteries and fabrics that can conduct energy. At a recent demonstration, Cui took pieces of fabric and regular paper and soaked them in an ink that contains nanoparticles. The infusion of these particles into every day porous items is the key to opening possibilities for cheap batteries made of paper as well as lighter super capacitors. View Comments

The advancements that are being made in battery technology are pretty mind boggling. We are seeing devices that are drawing power from just about every source that is imaginable, and now there is battery technology from researchers at Imperial College London that may actually have devices that create their own power. From cell phones to cars and everything in between, there may eventually be nothing more needed that to actually use the device. View Comments

Parents everywhere probably just sat up in their chairs reading that. Regardless of whether they are buying rechargeable batteries or getting Duracell batteries when they go on sale at Staples, batteries of any kind put a hurting on the wallet and to landfills. This is especially true around Christmas when toys demand that they load up. This could all change if the Ene Pocket meets with success. The Ene Pocket is a prototype toy car by Takara Tomy that runs on something kids absolutely love, sugar! View Comments

Stanford scientists are doing the unbelievable. Who could have thought of ordinary papers as batteries and super capacitors? But Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly create ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and super capacitors utilizing everyday paper. They have prepared ink with of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. Silver nanowires are highly conductive storage device. They are coating the sheet of papers with ink of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. View Comments

We are registering good progress in the field of alternative energy. Scientists and researchers are working tirelessly to come up with newer and better alternatives to fossil fuels. Scientists are also trying to apprehend the future problems related with clean and green fuels, for example, cleaning of windows and solar panels and expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car. Nature Nanotechnology has just published the New Tel Aviv University research. The research findings deal with a breakthrough in assembling peptides at the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic luxuries come true in the coming years. View Comments

When we utilize any gadget or means of comfort we know that these devices consume energy. But the energy is not utilized by devices. Some of the energy is lost in the form of friction or heat. For example when we are exploiting the power of computer processor chips, car engines or electric power plants there is a necessity of getting rid of excess heat otherwise the equipments will not perform at their optimal level. Now researchers are thinking about using this waste energy. Peter Hagelstein is the co-writer of this concept and an associate professor of electrical engineering at MIT. His paper was published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Applied Physics. View Comments

CSIRO is an Australian research organization. CSIRO is working in collaboration with Victorian energy distributor SP AusNet. They both are aiming to evaluate the impact and benefits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the electricity network. They are also trying to figure out how this low emission transport option could be incorporated into our homes and cities in the future. They are opting out for a three-month trial of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The staff of the energy distributor SP AusNet will use a modified PHEV for their daily commute and other leisurely journeys. View Comments

Bacteria are one of the most abundant organisms on the planet and also one of the most studied. Today, scientists use bacteria for genetics research, antibiotics, and yes! Even biofuels. Recent technological advances have made a battery running on bacteria a reality. Known as microbial fuels cells or MFCs, batteries running on bacteria and other microbes have been keenly researched by scientist for decades. View Comments

It seems simple but if put it into practice then we can develop real potential for hydrogen fuels. A new method of “recycling” hydrogen-containing fuel materials could pave the way for commercially viable hydrogen-based vehicles. An article published in world’s leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, makes a claim about recycling hydrogen-containing fuel materials. Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Alabama researchers working within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Chemical Hydrogen Storage Center of Excellence express a noteworthy progress in hydrogen storage science. View Comments

Scientists are tirelessly working on sources of alternative energy so that we can have a better substitute for fossil fuels in near future. We know that sunlight, wind and geothermal sources of energy are better for everyone. But they also need efficient fuel cells for better utilization of power. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) seem promising enough for both stationary and mobile applications. Stationary use can cover residential applications to power plants. Mobile applications contain energy for ships at sea and in space, as well as for automobiles. Another advantage of the SOFCs is when they are working in reverse manner as solid oxide electrolyzer cells they create pure hydrogen by splitting water. View Comments

A normal fossil fuel car (using an internal combustion engine) only needs the battery to start the engine as well as run the air conditioning system and the car stereo. But the scene is quite different with electric cars. Batteries run everything. So when one tries to buy an electric car his/her prime concern is battery. Electric car owners are still grappling with the quality and reliability of the electric car battery. The main concern is how long the battery will last before it needs recharging. Researchers are continuously trying to devise new ways for the battery to last longer and recharge easily. Imagine your phones, mp3 players, computers and laptops running for days without recharging, or for that matter your car running far longer on one charge than it presently can with a tank or two of gas. Using air power, it might be possible in as early as 5 years. View Comments

When we watch science fiction, deep in our heart many of us believe that’s how it will remain, a fiction. But few refuse to believe that and turn science fiction into reality. Angela Belcher and her team of bioengineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) belong to the second category. They have turned virus-built battery into a reality. Their efforts have not yielded instant result. They have been working on this theory for the past five years. They were concentrating their efforts on a virus known as M13 bacteriophage that are harmless to humans. View Comments

People want to use clean and green energy and live easy on earth’s resources. Many are changing to hybrid cars and using solar panels side by side with conventional sources of energy. But they hold a grudge. How to store large amount of energy in batteries? Hybrid cars fit batteries for power storage. But this power is not enough to last long distances and takes many undesirable hours to recharge. The storage battery is not very helpful during acceleration. Solar and wind also don’t provide us with power at constant rate. They give us energy intermittently. Their storage devices also take lots of space and money as well and yet they don’t seem promising for surge demand. Gary Rubloff, who is the director of the University of Maryland's NanoCenter is also voicing a common consumer’s concern, "Renewable energy sources like solar and wind provide time-varying, somewhat unpredictable energy supply, which must be captured and stored as electrical energy until demanded. Conventional devices to store and deliver electrical energy -- batteries and capacitors -- cannot achieve the needed combination of high energy density, high power, and fast recharge that are essential for our energy future." View Comments

This age is known as electronic age. It seems impossible to run life without electronic goods. They are part and parcel of our personal and professional life. We use many small devices in our everyday life. And each small device needs power. Now devices are becoming smaller with each passing day hence scientists are finding out ways to power them. Scientists are putting their effort on a material known as palladium. This may turn out to be a hopeful substance in near future to power fuel cells. Another advantage that palladium has over other metals is, it is cheaper and more abundant. Vismadeb Mazumder who is a graduate student and assisting chemistry professor Shouheng Sun in writing the paper, explains the benefits, "This approach is very novel. It works. It’s two times as active, meaning you need half the energy to catalyze. And it’s four times as stable." View Comments

We are searching for the alternative energy which can conveniently be used for our industrial and everyday purposes. Wind, water, geothermal and many other alternative energy sources are good and clean and green. But all of them lack one thing or another and don’t seem commercially viable. Researchers all over the world are trying to find solutions for this impending and inevitable energy crisis. Scientists from University of Rochester are trying to do the same thing. They are aiming to produce longest platinum nanowires. This feat has not been achieved by anyone. These longest platinum nanowires could make an impact on the development of fuel cells for cars, trucks and other devices. The wires, 1/50,000 the width of a human hair, are thousands of times longer than any previously made, according to a report in Nano Letters. View Comments

For the successful takeover of alternative energy over conventional sources of energy we need a good battery technology too for power storage. The devices we want to keep on using need to be recharged. And we all know that recharge takes hours whether it’s our mobiles or laptops. If the researchers from MIT has implemented the know-how of these lithium-ion batteries, successfully then our waiting hours for recharge will be over. View Comments

European auto maker Volkswagen and the Japanese Toshiba Corporation recently announced their plans to begin working together to develop electric drive units for vehicles. The cars will be part of VW's new family of small cars. Volkswagen chairman, Dr. Martin Winterkorn, said the company's goal is to be the first auto manufacturer to mass-produce affordable emissions-free vehicles. He also stated that there is still "a considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle." They hope to have at least one model on the market by 2012. View Comments

Currently silicon-based solar cells are flooding the market. Industry pundits can foresee a hopeful future for low-cost, flexible solar cells. If we can make solar devices other than silicon based materials then they can be used for all sorts of applications beyond just the traditional solar panels on house rooftops. It will be great if we can have solar cells for portable electronic devices too. View Comments