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AAAAAAAAA-size Li-Ion Cells

Jasin Natael writes "Thought Li-Ion batteries were all the same? Think again. Several universities, under a grant from the US Office of Naval Research, are miniaturizing the anodes and cathodes of Li-Ion batteries to nanoscale, hoping to make more efficient, smaller cells that last longer."

32 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. My $$'s on fuel cells. by jericho4.0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This sounds like more of an incremental improvment rather that the quantum leap that we need. And you'll still need a source of electricity to charge it. I'm still holding out for fuel cells.

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    1. Re:My $$'s on fuel cells. by Turbyne · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, since you're holding out for fuel cells,
      I'll be holding out for Mr. Fusion (Back to the Future 2).
      Chuck in something on the periodic table this side of iron, and you've got 1.21 Gigawatts for your cellphone to fry your brain.

      Yay sarcasm!

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  2. So... by ymgve · · Score: 3, Funny

    where's the pictures?

    1. Re:So... by dasmegabyte · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's there man. It's called "spacer.gif".

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  3. Nano Anodes and Cathodes by Buzz_Litebeer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thats pretty neat stuff, but what form will it have to take? We know the battery life in the nano, and micro world is neat, but does it help solve problems when it comes to cell phones? I know the article says it would be helpfull in cell phones, but will it merely be a smaller battery, or will the life of the battery be longer? I dont think it explained well how the actual life span of the batteries would be longer, except for one issue of how they would have less area to diffuse over. Could someone explain to me how this makes it last longer in a practicle sense, IE how would a cell phone use it?

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    1. Re:Nano Anodes and Cathodes by spencerogden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well... if an equivelent battery is smaller, then they could just use the origional size and get extra capacity, its not like cell phones need to get smaller until they are implants.

  4. well darn by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    soon I won't be able to use my second favorite excuse for getting off the phone:

    my batteries about to die.

    thanks a lot...stupid progress. I yearn for the good ole days, when cell phones were the size of small dogs and hurt your arms holding the things.

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    1. Re:well darn by robbyjo · · Score: 3, Funny

      soon I won't be able to use my second favorite excuse for getting off the phone

      Well, you still have the #1 excuse in your arsenal: "My dog ate my batteries!!"

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  5. lion cells? by pcardoso · · Score: 5, Funny

    oh please! change the subject!

    It scared the shit out of me when I read it as "lion cells" and the "AAAAAAAA" seems like a scream of someone being eaten alive in one of those lion cells!

    We had enough lion-fodder during the roman empire...

  6. Not AAAAAAAAA by njchick · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be an Å-size battery.

  7. Heat production? by autopr0n · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a nokia 8000 series phone (i forget the exact model, it's not printed anywhere, oddly)

    It's a few years, and pretty 'primitive', but when I'm on the phone that thing get's hot. Not unbearably so, although it does almost get uncomfortable to hold up to my ear.

    If these add-ons need so much more power then current cell phone batteries, then they would need to put out a lot more heat too. After all, 1 watt of power used equals about 1 watt of heat produced (not counting things like lights, or EM radiation).

    IMO those things would be better served by smaller, cpus with more computational power per unit of actual power.

    Of course longer battery life would be helpful to :P

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  8. Uh... by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you'll still need a source of electricity to charge it. I'm still holding out for fuel cells.

    Why... fuel cells still need to filled. Are you saying you have a more ready supply of methane or hydrogen gas then you do electricity?

    Power outlets exist in almost every man made structure in the industrial world. And in most cars too. I can charge my laptop/cellphone/PDA anywhere. The same can't said about the fuels used in fuel cells.

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    1. Re:Uh... by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is that batteries can't be recharged in 10 seconds. Tanks can be filled that fast. My battery dying wouldn't be nearly as big a problem if I could recharge it in 10 seconds. Plus, if fuel cells became popular, the fuel would quickly become available everywhere.

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    2. Re:Uh... by diggitzz · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are you saying you have a more ready supply of methane or hydrogen gas then you do electricity?

      Actually, aside from 'technology', the enormous abundance of methane on Earth is the most easily-detectable sign that life exists here.

      And what produces more methane than bovine flatulance? Nothing.(well maybe a Mexian rodeo)

      Why do you think space aliens are always stealing/mutilating cows? It's because they think the cows are the dominant form of life here. And they might be right. =P

      So anyway, eat a bean burrito and fill up your fuel cell, it's cheaper than buying batteries. ;)

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    3. Re:Uh... by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 3, Informative

      not exsactly true. While normaly you charge batteries slowly you can charge them very fast in some applcations. Take EV's and HEV's while it would take many hours to charge their battery packs through a charger they charge their batteries very quickly when doing things like regenerative braking (as in charge a huge battery pack in seconds). In a HEV's I work on we can only do so much regen do to the size of the battery pack, they can take the charge quiet fast (though there is a limit) the big problem is running out of space (as in energy storage) to quick. But any charging cycle slowly kills batteries. The severity only ajust the time line. This is where ultra capacitors will begin to come into play.

    4. Re:Uh... by tap · · Score: 3, Insightful

      For a given battery chemistry, the time it takes to fully charge the battery is relatively constant. Li-ion cells for instance normally take two hours to fully charge. The maximum charge rate for li-ion cells is normally 1C, where C is the capacity of the battery in amp-hours. So if you have a small 600 mAh cell it change take a charge at a max rate of 600 mA, while a larger 1800 mAh cell could be charged at 1.8 amps, but both will take about the same time to charge. NiMH and especially nicad batteries can charged at higher rates, like 3C or more. But still, a one minutes charge time would mean a peak charge rate of more than 60C, a no battery can take that.

  9. Nanosize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now where did I put that battery...

  10. Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    all the guy wanted was to submit a Slashdot story that would show up first in alphabetical order.

  11. Energy Density Does Not Scale. by WittyName · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a constant, dependant on the substance used in the battery. They may get 10 percent more watt hours in this battery. Peak current should be better, due to larger surface area of the anode/cathode. Lithium Polymer batteries have a higher energy density BTW.

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  12. It's Time to Go Outside When... by Myriad · · Score: 5, Funny
    It scared the shit out of me when I read it as "lion cells" and the "AAAAAAAA" seems like a scream of someone being eaten alive in one of those lion cells!

    You know the scary thing? I read "lion" as being Lithium Ion right off the bat. Even the AAAAAAAAAAA as being a play on AA/AAA size batteries.

    "Lion", as in the animal, never once occurred to me until I read your message.

    Frankly, your interpretation would make more sense to the world at large. Proof positive that I need to get out more!

    --
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  13. There's a problem with this approach by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can't scale things down like this. Rules change as you get smaller. Cells, as in human cells, don't have little batteries with discrete anodes and cathodes floating around. The way cells use energy is fundamentally different from a battery. People will have to shift their point of view away from making 'big things small', and start thinking in different ways. It is possible to miniaturize vacuum tubes, for example, but to get really small circuits there had to be a (sigh.. marketroid speak, but it works well) paradigm shift. I think the same thing will happen with energy storage.

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  14. This will make BILLIONS!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    These little batteries can be used in tiny little dildos that attach themselves directly to a women's clitoris. They can wear them whenever they go out, when they go to work, or during a date.

    They can even wear them during sex and they won't have to fake orgasms anymore. The man will think he's studly and the woman will be satisfied. None will be all the wiser and there will at least be peace on earth.

    Oh happy day!

  15. Re:Naming scheme by GigsVT · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I used to know this, but the naming convention came around sometime in the early 50s or late 40s. There were A, B, C, D dry cells, and then those big tall 8 inch ones that were about 2 inches around, they had some name also. I believe it was set up by the government in some capacity, possibly the military. Could be wrong.

    As far as why "A" then "AA", then "AAA" this probably comes from the way that guages are measured. As guage gets larger, you get closer to 0, then you have 00, 000, 0000. It was probably the same line of thought that cause the creater of the first battery smaller than the A to name it AA. Just speculation, but it makes sense.

    This link explains what happened to the "B" cell:

    http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/16/51.asp

    Couldn't find much else on Google, because battery is such a common word, and "dry cell" gets you lots of biology links.

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  16. Re:hmmm by diggitzz · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long the cat's not in a sealed box with a Uranium-238 atom and a geiger-counter wired to a shotgun, your conversations can be carried on indefnitely.

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  17. Speaking of battery size ... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does anyone know why sizes 'A' and 'B' aren't sold? Why the jump from AA to C ?

    Cheers

    1. Re:Speaking of battery size ... by bakes · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's for the same reason that condom sizes are never small, medium, and large; instead they are large, extra large, and 'Oh my God!'

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    2. Re:Speaking of battery size ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      They used to, a hundred years ago. The B battery in a tube radio was the plate voltage, around 200V or more. This is why to this day you can still find people who will call the main supply in an amplifier the B+ or the B supply.
      Of course these batteries were large and complex, and where replaced by transformer supplies as soon as electrification of households was popular enough.

      "A" batteries were filament batteries, at 6.3V, for the tube heaters (you know those tubes that glow? You gotta heat em up to get that glow).

    3. Re:Speaking of battery size ... by mythosaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A batteries? In what alternative universe did you guys find A batteries? Virtually no one makes them today, or B batteries either. The letters are part of a standard for single-cell batteries devised by the American National Standards Institute, or ANSI, beginning in the 1920s. (I realize that, strictly speaking, a battery consists of two or more cells, but let's not get picky.) Today the standard sizes range from AAAA to G, and for some reason there's also J, N, and 6. AAA, AA, C, and D were the only sizes that caught on in a big way commercially, but the others haven't totally disappeared. If you pry apart one of those big 6-volt lantern batteries, you'll find four F cells inside.

      http://www.batteryholders.com/ansiref.shtml

  18. Inexpensive batteries would be better by Powercntrl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Li-Ion batteries are a great improvement in terms of capacity over older NiCad and NiMH (Every time I see that, I think of that movie with the rats... but I digress.) technologies. In terms of price; however, I'm less than satisifed. My cell phone uses a Li-Ion battery and it seems like it's nearing the end of its useful life. You can imagine how shocked (pun intended) I was when I found out the cost of a replacement battery was equal to the cost I originally paid for the cell phone! The advances in battery technology are nice, but I'd be more than willing to accept bulkier batteries if they were a lot less costly.

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  19. Batteries not included... by Alsee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh great, my new boom box takes 8192 AAAAAAAAA batteries. (Sold separately)

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  20. Taese and the nono motors and... by croftj · · Score: 4, Funny

    We can make nano-vibrators vibrators for cockroaches. A good envronmentaly safe way to reduce the number of cockroaches in the world!

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  21. Nano-anodes? by p3d0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Nano-anodes"? Have I suddenly fallen into a Mork and Mindy episode?

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