World's Smallest Battery Created

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World's Smallest Battery Created

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 11, 2010 @07:03PM from the only-need-fifty-thousand-of-them-to-power-a-phone dept.

Zothecula writes "Because battery technology hasn't developed as quickly as the electronic devices they power, a greater and greater percentage of the volume of these devices is taken up by the batteries needed to keep them running. Now a team of researchers working at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies has created the world's smallest battery. 'It consists of a bulk lithium cobalt cathode three millimeters long, an ionic liquid electrolyte, and has as its anode a single tin oxide (Sn02) nanowire 10 nanometers long and 100 nanometers in diameter.' (Abstract in Science.) Although the tiny battery won't be powering next year's mobile phones, it has already provided insights into how batteries work and should enable the development of smaller and more efficient batteries in the future."

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Incorrect by The_mad_linguist · 2010-12-11 19:07 · Score: 2, Funny

the tiny battery won't be powering next year's mobile phones
Clearly somebody hasn't seen the designs for the iPhone Femto.
I'm sure I left them around here somewhere...
Shit. I vacuumed them up.
1. Re:Incorrect by The+Clockwork+Troll · 2010-12-11 21:46 · Score: 2
  
  This is all an attempt to capitalize on this week's DVD release of Knight and Day.
  
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2. Re:Incorrect by hairyfeet · 2010-12-11 22:53 · Score: 2
  
  And sadly you just hit the nail on the head with what is wrong with today's mobile devices: that too many like Jobs look at them as fashion accessories instead of actually useful devices. I mean seriously, how many here would be happy for an extra couple of ounces added to their phone for an extra half a day or more of battery life? While our phones are being tasked with doing more and more the fashionista insist on giving us Kate Moss battery designs. Hell good luck finding a smart phone that doesn't have an iSliver of a battery.
  Until something like TFA comes out that will let iSliver batteries actually carry a decent charge I really don't think a step back from the shrinkage is too much to ask. after all what good is having all these functions on our "mobile" devices if it causes them to go through a charge like shit through a goose and makes us carry a charger around everywhere just to use the thing?
  
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3. Re:Incorrect by TapeCutter · 2010-12-12 00:40 · Score: 1
  
  "I really don't think a step back from the shrinkage is too much to ask"
  
  Especially since it's been done before.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
4. Re:Incorrect by PopeRatzo · 2010-12-12 00:57 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  This is all an attempt to capitalize on this week's DVD release of Knight and Day.
  Was that a movie or TV show of some kind? Is that the one with that guy from Valkyrie - the Movie?
  I liked that one. I wonder if they're going to make Valkyrie 2?
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
5. Re:Incorrect by peragrin · 2010-12-12 01:03 · Score: 1
  
  and just where would you put that extra battery?
  it won't fit comfortably in your pocket anymore. so maybe a hip holster or purse. The whole idea of smaller phones is so that you can carry them without having to buy a holster for the damn things.
  And if it wasn't for jobs there would be no android or windows 7 you wouldn't have a smart phone you would have something like like the sidekick, or windows mobile 6. you need someone who not only thinks outside the box but is willing to actually build what was dreamed up. very few in the industry are willing to do that now.
  
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6. Re:Incorrect by zmollusc · 2010-12-12 05:00 · Score: 2
  
  I tested your theory by fastening my htc desire to an lg renoir with an elastic band. Still fits in my pocket and is not too heavy.
  I have used holsters before ( for crackberry and nokia n95 ), and found that it just put the phones in harm's way ( broke the crackberry's screen when I shoved a box with my hip ) and got tangled with seat belts and cables and door handles. Usually the holsters would spit the phone out onto the floor or the holster itself would fall in two.
  
  --
  They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
7. Re:Incorrect by dziban303 · 2010-12-12 06:24 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I want my phone to be heavy enough that if I knock somebody down with it, they stay down.
8. Re:Incorrect by Artifice_Eternity · 2010-12-12 08:20 · Score: 1
  
  And sadly you just hit the nail on the head with what is wrong with today's mobile devices: that too many like Jobs look at them as fashion accessories instead of actually useful devices.
  Really? Have you ever used an iPhone? It's one of the most useful phones ever made. It was certainly head and shoulders ahead of any other smartphone when it came out in terms of functionality; other companies have been playing catch-up since Jobs redefined the entire product category.
  I'm not saying iPhones are without flaws, but to say that they're designed merely as "fashion accessories" is totally wrong.
9. Re:Incorrect by Voyager529 · 2010-12-12 15:14 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not saying iPhones are without flaws, but to say that they're designed merely as "fashion accessories" is totally wrong.
  Neither is he. What he's saying is that it's been Apple's general trend that, if function should come at the cost of form, that form tends to win.
  Personally, I got a high-capacity battery for my Droid Incredible. I loved the form factor of the handset as it shipped out of the box. However, the phone ate through battery life at a nearly unusable pace. The new battery pack brings the battery life to where it needs to be (i.e. still having a usable charge when I get home at night), but the touch-only phone is nearly as thick as my HTC Rhodium, and that one has a slide-out keyboard. Form won out on the Incredible too.
  It's the general trend that's a problem. Remember, there were plenty of people who carried around "Zac Morris" sized handsets in their day. Palm had a nice industry around PDAs, nearly all of which were larger than modern handsets and didn't include a cellular modem inside them. I'm def on board with the GP here; an extra 0.1 inches on a cell phone shouldn't be the huge deal it'd inevitably be made out to be, should it yield another 90 minutes of battery life.
10. Re:Incorrect by PopeRatzo · 2010-12-13 14:23 · Score: 1
  
  Sadly for you it's an o p e r a.
  Opera is the highest form of human expression. It is the king of arts.
  Parsifal is my favorite of Wagner's work. The end of Act 1 and the beginning of Act two as the old knight and Parsifal walk through the forest and he asks "What is the Grail?" in those four ascending notes brings me to my knees every time. I believe that section of Parsifal is maybe my favorite bit of music (with the first three songs on Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power being a close second).
  I was raised in large part by an Italian grandfather who considered himself to be an opera buffo tenor. I learned the stories of operas the way other kids learn fairy tales. I could sing the climactic arias from Pagliacci and Cavalleria before I could spell.
  In my early twenties, playing in punk rock bands, I used to amuse my bandmates by performing Nessun Dorma or recitativo from il Barbieri.
  Be careful when making assumptions about other peoples' tastes.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
11. Re:Incorrect by zelda43 · 2010-12-14 00:15 · Score: 1
  
  You are very fortunate to have had such an early exposure to classical music and thought, and such a cultured grandfather.
Developing new batteries by Space+cowboy · 2010-12-11 19:11 · Score: 4, Informative

There is a reason why battery technology hasn't developed as fast as the technologies that use them; packing more and more energy into a given volume is a dangerous thing to do. When we pack a lot of energy in a (at least temporarily :-) stable state into a given volume, we tend to call those things "explosives". There's a fine line to tread here, and the more-efficient thing to do is reduce wastage than try to push battery abilities.

We could always use a different form of energy storage, of course, but nuclear powered cellphones don't have customer appeal :)

Simon

--
Physicists get Hadrons!
1. Re:Developing new batteries by fluffy99 · 2010-12-11 19:55 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  There is a reason why battery technology hasn't developed as fast as the technologies that use them; packing more and more energy into a given volume is a dangerous thing to do. When we pack a lot of energy in a (at least temporarily :-) stable state into a given volume, we tend to call those things "explosives". There's a fine line to tread here, and the more-efficient thing to do is reduce wastage than try to push battery abilities.
  They're only called explosives if they rapidly release that energy. NiCad batteries for example are more dangerous than alkaline batteries simply because a dead short would heat up very quickly. Same for Lithium with the added danger of the battery itself burning. Increasing energy density is still very desirable - for example not having the battery in a car weighing 2-tons by itself.
2. Re:Developing new batteries by Black+Gold+Alchemist · 2010-12-11 19:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  There is a reason why battery technology hasn't developed as fast as the technologies that use them; packing more and more energy into a given volume is a dangerous thing to do.
  Not necessarily. What you want is something that is energy dense yet kinetically stable. Explosives are the opposite. Explosives deliver small amounts of power really fast. For example, the best explosives (according to wiki) are around 16 MJ/L and most around 3-5 MJ/L. Gasoline is at 34 MJ/L. If you want something that stores a lot of energy and won't explode, look no further than a pile of scrap aluminium. Aluminium stores roughly 83 MJ/L. You wouldn't be scared to have a ton of aluminium lying around behind your house, but that block could store enough energy to run your house for a year.
  
  --
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  Virtue is a temptation
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3. Re:Developing new batteries by Black+Gold+Alchemist · 2010-12-11 20:00 · Score: 1
  
  small amounts of power
  Should be energy.
  
  --
  Responsibility is an addiction
  Virtue is a temptation
  Community is a cartel
4. Re:Developing new batteries by mu22le · 2010-12-12 00:59 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  [...]. Aluminium stores roughly 83 MJ/L. You wouldn't be scared to have a ton of aluminium lying around behind your house, but that block could store enough energy to run your house for a year.
  How would you extract power from a ton of aluminum? (honest question :)
5. Re:Developing new batteries by Rhywden · 2010-12-12 01:46 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Burn it. It's hot enough that it will rip the oxygen from water, thus making it impossible to quench an aluminum fire with mere water.
6. Re:Developing new batteries by Fallingwater · 2010-12-12 02:31 · Score: 2
  
  There is a reason why battery technology hasn't developed as fast as the technologies that use them; packing more and more energy into a given volume is a dangerous thing to do.
  That's not the reason. Keeping several dozen litres of easily flammable liquid in a tank and sending it to the engine by means of thin rubber tubing is dangerous too, but we do that all the time. If lithium batteries could be made with a much higher energy density than they have, they could always be placed inside armored containers - a bit like we do with LPG-powered vehicles. The reason is simply that the technology isn't there yet.
  
  When we pack a lot of energy in a stable state into a given volume, we tend to call those things "explosives".
  Not necessarily. If we could put as much research in LiFePO4 cells as it's gone in LiIon during the years, it's a safe bet they'd have a much higher density than they have now (approximately half that of LiIon), while still being perfectly safe. The only way a LiFe cell can start a fire is if it's misused - say, to send a whole lot of energy through a thin wire, that overheats and sets fire to something nearby. The cell itself can be folded, spindled and mutilated with no consequences. The danger is not in the amount of energy itself, it's in how it's stored. A log of wood has a lot of energy stored in it, but you're not scared by wood, are you?
  
  There's a fine line to tread here, and the more-efficient thing to do is reduce wastage than try to push battery abilities.
  Reducing wastage is certainly a noble goal, but physics has limits, and once you reach them the only possible solution is to pump more amps in your application.
  
  We could always use a different form of energy storage, of course, but nuclear powered cellphones don't have customer appeal
  It comes to mind that a miniaturized radioisotope generator could probably power a modern cell phone for years at an end. Of course, few people would want something containing a radioactive Strontium pellet near their 'nads, no matter how much protection it had...
7. Re:Developing new batteries by mu22le · 2010-12-12 03:35 · Score: 1
  
  I think I have an even better idea: just annihilate it using a ton of anti aluminium, you can potentially extract the theoretical maximum energy (mc^2, the chemical binding energy is peanuts by comparison) from it.
8. Re:Developing new batteries by Black+Gold+Alchemist · 2010-12-12 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  Al-air fuel cells. If could improve the technology to make it more efficient (its currently 40% aluminium to electricity), we could see a future where aluminium is a transportation fuel.
  
  --
  Responsibility is an addiction
  Virtue is a temptation
  Community is a cartel
9. Re:Developing new batteries by Idiomatick · 2010-12-12 10:05 · Score: 1
  
  They'd sell like hotcakes in the middle east...
10. Re:Developing new batteries by Idiomatick · 2010-12-12 10:08 · Score: 2
  
  On a more serious note. Battery life span needn't be so poor from a physics POV. If my laptop battery life stayed at 9 hours I'd be very happy with it. The fact that it hovers around 45minutes today is upsetting. The same goes for cars. Possibly more so due to the huge investment. If they change the replacement cycle for batteries on electric cars from 2years to 10 it would be HUGE.
11. Re:Developing new batteries by Idiomatick · 2010-12-12 10:11 · Score: 1
  
  That'd shut people up about the 3$ a gallon bitching.
12. Re:Developing new batteries by kvezach · 2010-12-12 11:28 · Score: 1
  
  I like the direct borohydride fuel cell idea, myself. It would use sodium borohydride as fuel, which is very energy dense (and the fuel cell is efficient). The only problems are that converting the "waste" (sodium metaborate) back into borohydride is difficult, and that it requires 70'C temperatures to work.
13. Re:Developing new batteries by kvezach · 2010-12-12 11:43 · Score: 1
  
  Now try Polonium-210 :)
  
  It spits out alpha particles at 5.4 MeV, and has a half-life of 138 days. To compare, Strontium-90 has a half-life of 28 years and emits two electrons at sum energy of 2.8 MeV.
14. Re:Developing new batteries by N+Monkey · 2010-12-12 22:48 · Score: 1
  
  [...]. Aluminium stores roughly 83 MJ/L. You wouldn't be scared to have a ton of aluminium lying around behind your house, but that block could store enough energy to run your house for a year.
  How would you extract power from a ton of aluminum? (honest question :)
  Thermite is sometimes used for welding.
15. Re:Developing new batteries by Smidge204 · 2010-12-13 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  What type of electric car battery needs to be replaced every 2 years? That's virtually unheard of. Even lead-acid batteries last longer than that. First generation NiMH EV packs have been on the road for 14 years and counting. The latest round of EVs coming to market in 2011 typically warranty the battery for 8 years.
  10 year battery life with 30% capacity loss or less after that time is easily achievable. Maybe you're abusing those laptop batteries more than you think.
  =Smidge=
16. Re:Developing new batteries by Idiomatick · 2010-12-13 14:20 · Score: 1
  
  One time I got hit by an SUV in the winter and twisted to land on my arms instead of my backpack to save my laptop.... So you may have something there. Made sure my computer made it to post before I noticed I was bleeding. Ok... pretty sure its my fault. But still! I usually use the power cord :/
  
  Also, I was thinking about LiON not NiMH or lead which do last longer. I was under the impression that you could expect around 60% capacity by the 4 year mark. Which for a car that is already severely handicapped by range could mean the difference between making your daily trip and not.
  
  If 8 years is typical for cars coming out I'll be impressed.
Smallest battery created? by igreaterthanu · 2010-12-11 19:13 · Score: 2

As if before this new battery existed there didn't already exist a battery that was the smallest.

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1. Re:Smallest battery created? by Plunky · 2010-12-11 23:04 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Yeah but this one powers the worlds smallest electric violin,
  and it's playing the worlds saddest tune today,
  for the worlds second smallest battery..
How do you charge the world's smallest battery? by Crash+McBang · 2010-12-11 19:19 · Score: 4, Funny

Scuff your feet and touch it to a doorknob?

--
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
How small is it in layman's terms? by Kufat · 2010-12-11 19:37 · Score: 5, Funny

Scientists tell us that the sheer number of "A"s required to describe this battery would fill, like, a bunch of lines.
1. Re:How small is it in layman's terms? by splerdu · 2010-12-11 20:37 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Aaaaaaaaa!: Best wiki article ever.
2. Re:How small is it in layman's terms? by Mspangler · 2010-12-12 04:01 · Score: 1
  
  Aaaaaaaaa!
  Aunt Annie's ardent aqua alligator? I'm still short a few letters though.
Nothing changes by mbstone · 2010-12-11 19:49 · Score: 1

It may be the world's smallest battery, but it still won't be included.
Zoolander's cellphone by kimvette · 2010-12-11 20:01 · Score: 1

Is that what powers Zoolander's cellphone?
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1333/856357878_bb4a4ae794_o.jpg
http://www.phonedog.com/img/blog/2009/04/Zoolander.jpg

--
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Violin by maakri · 2010-12-11 20:28 · Score: 2

Great! Now I can use it to power my open source violin!
Really? by dangitman · 2010-12-11 20:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

Because battery technology hasn't developed as quickly as the electronic devices they power, a greater and greater percentage of the volume of these devices is taken up by the batteries needed to keep them running.

As they say, [citation needed].
I don't know about the author, but the devices I use seem to have less of their volume taken up by batteries, yet still get better battery life. Compare a 2010 Macbook Air or Macbook Pro to a Powerbook 100. Or in one of my hobbies, electric powered radio-controlled aircraft, in the days of Ni-Cad batteries, they barely used to get off the ground because of the enormous, heavy batteries. In comparison, today's Lithium-Polymer powered craft have much smaller and lighter batteries, yet get more power.

--
... and then they built the supercollider.
1. Re:Really? by zmollusc · 2010-12-12 00:47 · Score: 2
  
  I concur. My first mobile phone was powered by six AA nicads, approximately 40% of the volume of the phone. The last half dozen phones have been powered by some kind of electrical after-eight mint occupying maybe 10% of the volume.
  I would be happy if the phone doubled in thickness and all that extra space was used by a battery that held six times the charge.
  
  --
  They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
2. Re:Really? by owlstead · 2010-12-12 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  I concur that. They have been becoming smaller and smaller, while I would prefer sturdier (dust & waterproof, what world do these designers live in, office space or something?) and with longer lifetime. Allas, that's not a "sexy design", so you can only buy specialized, basic function phones that incorporate this.
3. Re:Really? by Idiomatick · 2010-12-12 10:15 · Score: 1
  
  You have a non smart phone and have battery life issues? That shit should be lasting a loooong time.
Wrong wire dimensions in FTA by feranick · 2010-12-11 21:12 · Score: 2

"single tin oxide (Sn02) nanowire 10 nanometers long and 100 nanometers in diameter."

This is not a wire (the diameter is one order of magnitude bigger than the length...). Maybe only a type, but the actual length should be in micrometers... Indeed from the original Science paper:

"It took about half an hour to charge a nanowire with initial length of 16 um and diameter of 188 nm."

It would be nice to check if reported claims made in TFA make sense before posting...
1. Re:Wrong wire dimensions in FTA by Eudial · 2010-12-12 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  More like a nanopizza. Slap on some fullerenes and nanotubes, nano-slide it into a nano-oven on a nano-sheet of graphene and nanocook it for a nanosecond in a nanokelvin nanooven. Then nanoeat it. May nanocause cellular nanodamage and nanocancer.
  
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2. Re:Wrong wire dimensions in FTA by Eudial · 2010-12-12 01:28 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm, I seem to have written nanooven twice. Chalk it up to weird quantum effects. You get those on such a scale.
  
  --
  GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
Re:Charge builds on the tip, wire grows by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-11 22:09 · Score: 2, Funny

Is that the world's smallest battery in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Re:Not realy, Simon. by PopeRatzo · 2010-12-12 01:06 · Score: 1

I'll have whatever he's drinking, please.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Silly headline by nedlohs · 2010-12-12 03:43 · Score: 1

Sure if you ignore the meaning of "battery".
Typo... by multimediavt · 2010-12-12 05:18 · Score: 1

Sn02
Should be "SnO2" not with a zero.
Re:Wire? by Artifice_Eternity · 2010-12-12 08:29 · Score: 1

Seriously. That's a disc, not a wire.
The ideal thing by MichaelSmith · 2010-12-12 15:17 · Score: 1

...for powering the worlds smallest electric violin.

--
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Batteries are just fine, the devices need work by evilviper · 2010-12-12 18:11 · Score: 2

"Because battery technology hasn't developed as quickly as the electronic devices they power, a greater and greater percentage of the volume of these devices is taken up by the batteries needed to keep them running.
I take issue with the premise. It couldn't be more wrong.
A) Part of the development of electronics is reducing power consumption. If they're needing more battery power, its because they AREN'T developing very quickly.
B) The fact that we can make devices that use a lot of power isn't novel at all. The opposite is true. If you need massive batteries to make up for the rampant waste of your device, you apparently designed it quite poorly.
C) My new Droid2 has a much smaller battery than my 10 year old Cassiopia E-100; yet the battery life is about 25% better, this despite a 300% faster CPU, and builtin wifi, gps, cell, etc., so I'm hard pressed to see any way in which this the premise is objectively true.
D) Even back then (10 years ago), there was a huge disparity between the power consumption of comarable devices. Compare the 3 hour battery like of the E-100 with the approx. 1 month runtime of my Psion5mx (symbian-based). There are notable differences, of course, but the later was by far the better PDA all around.
E) And make no mistake, there's next to nothing you can name that smartphones do today that needs a super high-end CPU. Yes, I'm sorry to say you're paying hundreds of dollars on high end hardware solely to compensate for software bloat. MP3s worked just fine on Intel 386s. H.264 is the big one, but an integrated DSP can handle most of that heavy lifting.

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1. Re:Batteries are just fine, the devices need work by aiht · 2010-12-12 22:16 · Score: 2
  
  E) And make no mistake, there's next to nothing you can name that smartphones do today that needs a super high-end CPU. Yes, I'm sorry to say you're paying hundreds of dollars on high end hardware solely to compensate for software bloat. MP3s worked just fine on Intel 386s. H.264 is the big one, but an integrated DSP can handle most of that heavy lifting.
  My 200MHz, 32MB RAM smartphone feels slower than the 4.77MHz, 640KB IBM XT I used as a teenager.
  I know clock-speed isn't the only measure of cpu speed, but seriously?
  I used to compile C code on that old thing, and it didn't feel too slow. Even just using the calculator or notes applet on my phone feels slow.