Everything is obsolete again this week!

[hank]

Wow: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00295

Making high-performance batteries from junkyard scraps

unlocking this performance is anodization, a common chemical treatment used to give aluminum a durable and decorative finish. When scraps of steel and brass are anodized using a common household chemical and residential electrical current, the researchers found that the metal surfaces are restructured into nanometer-sized networks of metal oxide that can store and release energy when reacting with a water-based liquid electrolyte.

The team determined that these nanometer domains explain the fast charging behavior that they observed, as well as the battery’s exceptional stability. They tested it for 5,000 consecutive charging cycles – the equivalent of over 13 years of daily charging and discharging – and found that it retained more than 90 percent of its capacity.

Unlike the recent bout of exploding lithium-ion cell phone batteries, the steel-brass batteries use non-flammable water electrolytes that contain potassium hydroxide, an inexpensive salt used in laundry detergent.

“When our aim was to produce the materials used in batteries from household supplies in a manner so cheaply that large-scale manufacturing facilities don’t make any sense, we had to approach this differently than we normally would in the research lab,” Pint said.

The research team is particularly excited about what this breakthrough could mean for how batteries are made in the future.

“We’re seeing the start of a movement in contemporary society leading to a ‘maker culture’ where large-scale product development and manufacturing is being decentralized and scaled down to individuals or communities. So far, batteries have remained outside of this culture, but I believe we will see the day when residents will disconnect from the grid and produce their own batteries. That’s the scale where battery technology began, and I think we will return there,” Pint said.

The Vanderbilt team drew inspiration from the “Baghdad Battery,” a simple device dating back to the first century BC, which some believe is the world’s oldest battery. It consisted of a ceramic terracotta pot, a copper sheet and an iron rod, which were found along with traces of electrolyte. Although this interpretation of the artifacts is controversial, the simple way they were constructed influenced the research team’s design.

hat tip to: q.kontinuum - SoylentNews User

[hank]

More promises of a glorious future, some day soon.

Tiny Silicon Particles Could Power Lithium Ion Batteries with 10 Times More Capacity
| from the powerful-research dept.
| posted by martyb on Monday January 21, @10:28 (/dev/random)
| Tiny Silicon Particles Could Power Lithium Ion Batteries with 10 Times More Capacity - SoylentNews
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[0]upstart writes:

[1]Tiny silicon particles could power lithium ion batteries with 10 times more capacity

University of Alberta chemists have taken a critical step toward creating a new generation of silicon-based lithium ion batteries with 10 times the charge capacity of current cells.

“We wanted to test how different sizes of silicon nanoparticles could affect fracturing inside these batteries,” said [2]Jillian Buriak, a U of A chemist and [3]Canada Research Chair in Nanomaterials for Energy.

Silicon shows promise for building much higher-capacity batteries because it’s abundant and can absorb much more lithium than the graphite used in current lithium ion batteries. The problem is that silicon is prone to fracturing and breaking after numerous charge-and-discharge cycles, because it expands and contracts as it absorbs and releases lithium ions.

The researchers examined silicon nanoparticles of four different sizes, evenly dispersed within highly conductive graphene aerogels, made of carbon with nanoscopic pores, to compensate for silicon’s low conductivity. They found that the smallest particles—just three billionths of a metre in diameter—showed the best long-term stability after many charging and discharging cycles.

[…] “As the particles get smaller, we found they are better able to manage the strain that occurs as the silicon ‘breathes’ upon alloying and dealloying with lithium, upon cycling,” explained Buriak.

[…] The study, “[4]Size and Surface Effects of Silicon Nanocrystals in Graphene Aerogel Composite Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries,” was published in Chemistry of Materials.

---

[5]Original Submission

Discuss this story at: SoylentNews Comments | Tiny Silicon Particles Could Power Lithium Ion Batteries with 10 Times More Capacity

Links:
0. upstart - SoylentNews User

1. Tiny silicon particles could power lithium ion batteries with 10 times more capacity | Folio
2. Jillian Buriak - Directory@UAlberta
3. http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileId=1403
4. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b03198
5. Tiny Silicon Particles Could Power Lithium Ion Batteries With 10 Times More Capacity: SoylentNews Submission

[hank]

Meanwhile, this from a FB posting:

John Payton‎
to
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
3 hrs ·

I hope this doesn’t start a flame war…

A journalist asked Tim Cook why iPhones are so expensive

“Well”, said Tim Cook, “that’s because the iPhone replaces a whole bunch of devices. A phone, a camera, a watch, a music player, a video player, a PDA, a voice recorder, a GPS navigator, a flashlight, a calculator, a portable gaming console, and many other things. Surely, a high price is worth paying to replace so many devices!”

“Then why are Androids so much cheaper?”, asked the journalist.

“Because,” said Tim Cook, “an Android replaces just one device. The iPhone.”

Yeah, BUT they’re LOUSY flashlights.

[Freedom]

@Firelight2

@Bort

All these breakthroughs are great, but they are meaningless until they are mass produced in a consumer product which is very rare, probably more the 99.99% of breakthroughs end up on a shelf never to be seen or heard from again.

This.

Every few months someone posts an article about a battery breakthrough … but so far nothing has been produced.

Until it reaches our grubby little hands our current stuff isn’t obsolete.

Breakthroughs are less likely to happen given the consolidation of so many industries and the failure of citizens worldwide to keep track of who owns what and for what reason. The cream doesn’t always rise to the top if there’s (much) more to be made making certain that long term investments run their course.

[hank]

LED cooling!

Running an LED in reverse could cool future computers

Running an LED in reverse could cool future computers
February 13, 2019, University of Michigan

[hank]

A Glass Battery That Keeps Getting Better?

This prototype of a non-flammable lithium-ion battery has an electrolyte based on a glass powder.

The future’s brighter, yet again …

[Rexlion]

@eebowler

Cool. I have to read up on organic LEDs now. WRT the PlaCSH structure, I’m real impressed by the results but, I get the impression that light will be coming out mostly perpindicular to the die and that might not help reflectors flashlights but asphericals will benefit.

|| parallel

|- perpendicular

If the emitter were lying flat on the ground, light shining perpendicular to the emitter would go straight up. Isn’t this how LED emitters tend to work already? I don’t see how this new tech would change that.

[hank]

’oogled that.

… The foremost challenge presently faced in designing LED’s is to reduce the amount of light that gets trapped inside the LED’s structure. A rudimentary LED emits only about 2 to 4 percent of the light it generates. The trapped light not only makes the LEDs dim and energy inefficient but also short-lived by heating the LED, which greatly reduces its lifespan….

[Tumbleweed48]

Now all they need is to dream up a military application, and the R&D money will pour in!

[xevious (Gary)]

@hank

’oogled that.

… The foremost challenge presently faced in designing LED’s is to reduce the amount of light that gets trapped inside the LED’s structure. A rudimentary LED emits only about 2 to 4 percent of the light it generates. The trapped light not only makes the LEDs dim and energy inefficient but also short-lived by heating the LED, which greatly reduces its lifespan….

Nothing else published since 2014. I wonder how well it’s progressing. I still haven’t made the move to 4K TV… and it seems that with the resolution game pretty much won, now it’s about accuracy of color rendition and customized motion management, thinness, as well as increased efficiency. Imagine a 60’ diagonal LED TV that rolls up for easy stowage (like into a ceiling fixture) and consumes only 5w of power.

Solid substrate lithium batteries are also getting close. More efficient, longer lifespan, smaller form factor, and far less volatile.