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Simple Chemical Trick To Boost Battery Efficiency
space_mongoose writes "Hitachi thinks that a simple chemical additive could significantly improve battery life. Alkaline batteries have a positive electrode of manganese oxide and a negative electrode of finely powdered zinc, but zinc oxide forms around these grains of zinc. Hitachi's solution is to replace the zinc with a fine powder of zinc-aluminum alloy, displacing the zinc within the zinc oxide layer making it a much better conductor."
another battery from Sony
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These changes to batteries are really just tweaks. Batteries are still very expensive, and thermodynamically inefficient. Also, they aren't even talking about lithium batteries, which would not benefit from this tweak. I'm still waiting for that breakthrough which will allow me to run my laptop for days (instead of hours) on a battery.
Quite an obvious solution, I'm sure. And battery companies don't do it because they want your batteries to run out faster, so you'll buy more...
Or maybe it's because this shit makes it more expensive than it would be to just replace the batteries more often?
I didn't see any mention of cost in the article. For instance looking at market aluminum prices, I am astounded to see that the price of the raw metal is increasing something like +23% per year. I don't know if relatively speaking the aluminum/zinc oxide is more costly than just zinc, but I think a greater point is... if the raw material costs are increasing at such a rapid pace (over 20% per year!) then just how "cost effective" will these batteries be in the long term?
P.S. the skyrocketing metal costs, including important ones like copper and silver, are part of an ongoing commodity boom and response to out of control inflation in the USA and depreciating US dollar. The rapidly increasing costs of these metals will be reflected in goods we buy, like batteries.
If you RTFA, you can see that they've filed a US patent on it recently.
Heh, yet another way to squeeze a little bit more out of alkaline batteries. I hope most research is going into rechargeable battery tech these days, because those are the batteries I really care about. I only use alkalines in remote controls nowadays.
plan. Imagine the new labels New and Improved! However the leap in added power will still be less than Lithium batteries.
second battery post, i missed the first one
TFA is no longer than the summary, but based on the concept it appears that this would improve only the peak current capability but not the total capacity (mAh). In fact, if anything, the addition of aluminum which does not participate in the electrolytic reaction would decrease the capacity. Not sure this is a very useful development.
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
Another advance I'd like to see in Battery Technology, that is for rechargeable batteries to be the same voltage as their alkaline counterparts.
There are many applications where 1.2V just doesn't substitute well for 1.5V.
j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
TFA talks about a zing aluminum alloy with the aluminum acting as a sacrificial electrode to prevent an oxide layer from forming on the zinc but aluminum forms a very hard oxide layer too so how exactly does it solve anything if it's an alloy? it will just form the oxide layer anyway and impede current flow. now if it were a seperate electrode you would have a problem where the current mainly originates from the aluminum electrode not the zinc so in that case why have the zinc there? for that matter why are we still using these alkaline battery formulas? they end up with this problem when an acidic formula probably wouldnt from the oxide layer in the first place.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
... Patent it.
If this is what Aluminum can do, imagine if they used Aluminium!
I'm glad we live in a world with zinc.
God spoke to me.
With all these advancements in batteries of late, my next battery might be my last battery -- in 5 years!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I'd settle for that carbon nano-tube batt-capacitor that would recharge a virtually infinite number of times in seconds, instead of hours.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
This alone might make them suitable in digital cameras, who's current requirements presently don't match up well with inexpensive alkaline cells.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Someone just need to make a device can be strapped on an arm and use the continual arm movement the user engages in when looking at porn to power the laptop...
Would that be their current current requirements?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Don't be silly. By then it'll be a different shape for your new laptop and you'll need a whole new battery that's TRULY different and revolutionary.
I'm glad Hitachi decided to run this by me first, before bringing these extended-life batteries to market. Just schlepping longer-lasting batteries on the market like that could be a bad idea. I mean, some people really like it when their devices die on them mid-week.
Currently, yes. They're all amped up, you'll be unable to resist them when they come out. Shocking charges, I know, but few have the capacity to induce or impede such a flow of power, watt?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Eh, if you think some batteries are dangerous just wait till you hit a capacitor that big the wrong way :D
Why is it that so many things take, say 4AA batteries (alkaline or rechargeables) but when it comes to the wall wart, it wants ONLY 5.2V or 5.8V or 6V or ...
Dire warnings and seventy-six versions of the same piggin thing with no real identifiable difference (so you have to hunt for the right one in the drawer) or ignore their prediction and stick a generic 6V wall-wart in it.
So why do they take such varying voltage in the battery but not the wall-wart?
I only use rechargeable batteries. They can be recharged 1000 times before they die, so they are extremely cheaper than the traditional ones.
Also, the ability to use the same battery for years and years makes it a lot more environmentally friendly. Just imagine, for a particular gadget you have, how many times you have thrown batteries away. The environmental cost per Wh is a complete nonsense.
So, then what you're saying is these burn longer than the Dell/Sony Laptop batteries?
Can I order some in time for July 4th?
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Other than things where the batteries might get lost or destroyed or in things that I rarely use, such as in the many dive lights I've had flood then go boom, or that 3 cell mag light behind the seat of my truck, I stopped using Alkalines ten years ago. You are silly if you aren't using NiMH's in everything. Sure they last half as long and cost three times as much, but considering you can recharge them 100+ times they pay for themselves pretty quickly.
They still have a way to go in a number of respects, but it looks like when they do start to be deployed, they will have energy densities that are substantially higher than chemical batteries.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
For me atleast they last far longer, I have alot of wireless devices most of which aren't placed in chargers (like my mouse and keyboard) over the last year I get the following battery lifetimes (In my Microsoft Intelimouse Explorer 2.0):
Duracell : 3 months
Woolworths : 3 Weeks
Energiser : 2 weeks (any of the varities)
Rechargeables : 4-6 months
GP rechargeable will last you forever and the charge doesn't degrade I'm using a set of GP's from 4 years ago which still last longer than my new Panasonic rechargables. Their the most expensive (two AA GP rechargeable were twice as expensive as 6 AA Panasonic's) but why non rechargable batteries are still sold is beyond me. Duracell make the best batteries but I've never come accross a rechargeable by them.
Like everything in life, there are trade-offs. There is nothing wrong with your choices - for your circumstances. Traveling extensively, as I do, I don't want the hassle of carrying multiple sets of rechargeable batteries and a charger for every size I need on the road (AA, AAA, 9V). I prefer the ease of longer life and lower cost purchase already charged. I understand I am paying more overall for the batteries, but if I factor in the reduced medical costs of one less back surgery because of the weight of my pack or the saved time by not having to deal with the TSA people any more than I already have to, I come out ahead!
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
I agree, but the New and Improved batteries might still be much cheaper and less hazardous.
It seems like this avoids the build-up of an insulating layer of zinc oxide. So, what happens when you put a current through something with higher resistance? It gets warm. Presumably then, if you have a relatively high-drain device, you're wasting a fair amount of the chemical energy from the battery in heating up the battery. Avoid this, and the battery should last longer.
If common batteries started paying an environmental tax, people would switch. There's no motivation for change, right now. The same for incandescent light bulbs.
It's all psychological. The anti-environmental behavior is actually a lot more expensive, but people don't do anything because they don't feel the cost. I try to convince people to use rechargeable batteries and gas light bulbs with rational arguments, I make the calculations in front of them to show the money they would spare. The answer is always "but they are more expensive".
Useful link for saving power on Intel hardware: http://www.linuxpowertop.org/index.php
So... three minutes, tops?
...but 282Wh in this profile represents "getting there" to me:
o dules/bmod0018-390v.asp
http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/products/m
Someone had to do it.
I suggest you do a little more research about good business models, and how the economics of breaking down parts, causes you to replace them, and that what he says is true, why would they want to replace the batteries that cost .35 cents to make that lasts 2 hours, with one that costs .45 cents to make but lasts 4 hours..... they lose money!
Like Bush SAYING he really wants to stop the oil dependency, and pushing to have supposed advancements, yet keeping that mysterious, never to be seen water engine that the governement
seased years back, back in the darkest corners of Area 51.
We will never see that engine, and we will always hear about those IMPROVEMENTS, yet
they will never really come out with the stuff that will kick all batteries a**es as that would be porr business sense.
It's "whose," not "who's." Who's is a contraction of "who is."
Seal it up and slap in a diode and fuse. That takes care of accidental touching and hooking it up the wrong way.
I for one welcome our new battery efficient overlords.
"Hitachi's solution is to replace the zinc with a fine powder of zinc-aluminum alloy [...]"
What, no nano powder?
A123 claim a 90% recharge in 5 minutes (or 80% in 12 minutes for a higher energy density version):h nology/power/pchart5/
http://www.a123systems.com/newsite/index.php#/tec
rant
Actually, it's all economical. Batteries, incandescent light bulbs, heck gasoline, all represent products with negative externalities. In short, the use of the product has additional costs which are not born by the consumer. Typically, these costs are accounted for by, as you say, applying a tax. However, most governments are loathe to do such a thing, especially on commodities, as it's politically expensive and can result in inflation, as the cost of basic goods increases (this is especially true of things like gasoline).
Wire you so revolting? You could've composed a joule-like response, but you'd rather choke us with terrible puns. Go hohm.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
This is just a tweak.
The most important invention in many many years is going to be a super battery.
- cheap
- very efficient
- high current
- high charge
- safe
- quick to charge
- compact
- light
Immediately, cars will become electric. Houses will bank electricity.
People will trade energy. Small producers will generate energy, store and sell later.
Remote countries will ship energy.
- less environment impact
etc
It will revolutionize the world in ways we almost can't imagine!
However, other goods don't experience the same skewing, so over time your market basket ends up being unbalanced, with essential items becoming more expensive compared to the ever cheaper trinkets -- thus, an appearance of rampant "inflation" in areas such as education, housing, medical care, energy, etc...
Did a search for the term, apparently it's been previously discussed on Slashdot here.
Making an alkaline battery pack that you only fall back on when your internal battery runs down makes more sense IMO. The alkalines can keep their charge for years in standby if not used too frequently. And if you spend the alkaline batteries out in the field, you can easily replace them with a trip to a convenience store.
OTOH the NiMH or lead-acid will hold less charge overall and require careful attention. Also, don't buy the mass-market Energizer/RayOvac NiMH 'D' cells... their capacity is very low for their size and weight.
Trackpoint logging. I like to have precise logs of trips. I'm not sure why that is useful yet, but the pack rat in me just likes collecting them. One possibility is to be able to contribute to projects like OpenStreetMap, so that we can finally have high quality vector maps unburdened by nasty legal restrictions. A further advantage of user-driven maps is that they can provide "unofficial" data such as hiking trails.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
It's a competitive market. There are multiple battery manufacturers. If they all have basically the same product and modest market shares, then if one of them comes out with a slightly more expensive, much longer lasting battery, they make more money because they sell more batteries (not less), because customers switch from buying other manufacturers' batteries. The phenomenon the OP described only occurs in monopoly (or sufficiently similar) markets; I'm fairly sure batteries are not such a market.
ie, have you tried clicking through on the patent link? I don't have any time to waste, but would question any article published by a quasi-scientific 'zine where the reference link is to a completely different Hitachi technology (disk drives). I did, however, enjoy the almost acid-like flashback to the days of doing DASD studies to help large IT departments justify spending Millions of Dollars to purchase that much needed .5 TB disk farm upgrade....
Ahhh, the good ol' days..
Anyway, the hyperlink in the newtechscientist article is: http://tinyurl.com/2bz2o3 which brings up the aformentioned patent. And, yes, I did a quick scan of the patent to make sure that it wasn't an embedded claim.
So, if someone has the time, it may be useful to see if this patent even exists.....
The costs are born by the consumer, just not immediately. Even though the consumer would save money by using CF lights (electricity bill) or rechargable batteries (cost of batteries) the immediate cost is higher. As an example, a CF lightbulb costs several times what a normal incandescent light bulb costs but uses much less electricity and lasts longer. The problem is the consumer only looks at the upfront cost and buys the incandescent bulb because the sticker price is lower, not taking into account the total cost over the life of the product.
Ohm my God! will you two quit it! I can feel the static in the air! Revolting is a pretty strong charge, it's so negative. You need a more positive outlook on things. I stand a neutral ground on this because I wouldn't want to spark off a lightning rod debate, having to answer a battery of questions. Yes I toured the circuit once but found it draining. I resisted it in the end and had to discharge myself from it. Now I lead a less alternating path, it helps me regenerate so I'm ready to go like the flick of a switch. In short you might say I have a single direction now, I'm a lot less likely to blow a fuse. When my wife started the tour I had to breaker of that real quick! I knew what it could lead to, I had to transformer, now we have something in common. The iony of it is, I want to do it all again but she says I'm too inverted now. I don't think we're on the same wavelength. I think about it with more and more frequency too. But I'm getting old, my plasma is getting thin. I just don't radiate the magnetic personality I used to have.
(Wow, I need to get a life... can you find all 33 references?)
I worked on a website for a friend that ownds batterybus.com onlybatteries.com etc. etc
He knows all about batteries, and would like to let you know how wrong you are...
Especially in the third world countries where the manufacturers pay employees a little more
to not have to wear proper safety gear to handle the battery materials, which costs almost nothing, but I guess if they get paid nothing....
Pretty sad if u ask me!