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Polymer Gel Shows Promise For Smaller, Cheaper Batteries

Posted by timothy on from the also-in-naturally-sweetened-varieties dept.

TENxOXR writes "The BBC News website is reporting that a team of researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a polymer jelly that could replace the volatile and hazardous liquid electrolyte currently used in most lithium batteries. They hope that their development leads to smaller, cheaper and safer gadgets."

1 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Patented shortly thereafter by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Informative

    When I was a kid, NiCad was the best rechargeable batteries you'd typically find. They suffered from the memory effect, and maxed out at about 150 Wh/L (well, modern ones do anyhow, according to wikipedia). Nowadays, Panasonic makes a 18650 lithium ion cell that does 620, and they expect to push that to 800 by 2013. A rather hefty improvement!