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World's First Battery Fueled By Air

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports on the revolutionary 'STAIR' (St Andrews Air) battery could now pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, laptops and mobile phones. The cells are charged in a traditional way but as power is used an open mesh section of battery draws in oxygen from the surrounding air that reacts with a porous carbon component inside the battery, which creates more energy and helps to continually 'charge' the cell as it is being discharged. The battery has a greater storage capacity than other similar-sized cells and can emit power up to 10 times longer. 'The key is to use oxygen in the air as a re-agent, rather than carry the necessary chemicals around inside the battery,' says Professor Peter Bruce of the Chemistry Department at the University of St Andrews. 'Our target is to get a five to ten fold increase in storage capacity, which is beyond the horizon of current lithium batteries.'"

2 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wow. by Hognoxious · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I bet that within the next 20 posts some twat starts on about catalysts.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re:Any side-effects or drawbacks? by jez9999 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Sometimes things sound too good to be true. Risk-free money smuggling from Nigeria. Enormous genitals from a few pills.

    You've obviously never heard of Viagra. :-)