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Researchers Accidentally Make Batteries That Could Last A Lifetime (computerworld.com)
Reader Socguy writes: A typical Lithium-ion battery breaks down badly between 5000-7000 cycles. Researchers at the University of California may have discovered a simple way to build a Lithium battery that can withstand 100,000+ cycles. This was a serendipitous discovery as the researcher was playing around with the battery and coated it in a thin gel layer. The researchers believe the gel plasticizes the metal oxide in the battery and gives it flexibility, preventing cracking.Dave Gershgorn, reporting for Popular Science: Instead of lithium, researchers at UC Irvine have used gold nanowires to store electricity, and have found that their system is able to far outlast traditional lithium battery construction. The Irvine team's system cycled through 200,000 recharges without significant corrosion or decline. However, they don't exactly know why. "We started to cycle the devices, and then realized that they weren't going to die," said Reginald Penner, a lead author of the paper. "We don't understand the mechanism of that yet." The Irvine battery technology uses a gold nanowire, no thicker than a bacterium, coated in manganese oxide and then protected by a layer of electrolyte gel. The gel interacts with the metal oxide coating to prevent corrosion. The longer the wire, the more surface area, and the more charge it can hold. Other researchers have been experimenting with nanowires for years, but the introduction of the protective gel separates UC Irvine's work from other research.Also from the report, "Penner suggests that a more common metal, like nickel, could replace the gold if the technology catches on."
It's not like this technology will ever make its way into my devices. Greedy bastards will patent it and demand huge fees to license the technology. It's also not good for the greedy bastards running businesses. The batteries won't break, which means they can't compel people to buy new stuff. Greedy fuckers will make sure this never makes its way into anything I own.
"This was a serendipitous discovery as the researcher was playing around with the battery and coated it in a thin gel layer."
Translated: Scientist was watching porn at work, accidentally got some on the battery.
The tech community has known for years that components coated in gold are always far more expensive and therefore better.
Zacharia Sitchin was right all along. they came here to recharge their batteries and left
"This was a serendipitous discovery as the researcher was playing around with the battery and coated it in a thin gel layer".
Just like Fleming's discovery of penicillin. In each case, something "just happened"; and the researcher was knowledgeable and alert enough to spot the significance of an apparently irrelevant event.
We need a lot more of this kind of thing, and it is only likely to happen where researchers have an adequate amount of freedom to experiment and "play around". Perhaps Heinlein's "Long Range Foundation" was a bit extreme - funding only projects that are very ambitious, very far-out, and immensely expensive, and even then only on condition that no useful results are expect for a long time - but that's the true spirit of scientific research. "Cast your bread upon the waters..." Ironically, the greatest practical benefits come from research that does not aim for any practical benefits.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
...I'm sure that's great news for Energizer and Duracell.
Even at 1 hour per cycle, that's 22 continuous years. Even at a 1 minute cycle for a research cell, that's 4 months... Wow.
Why am I so confused about this story?
Did they build a Lithium battery, or a gold battery?
Is it holding charge or chemical energy? (If it holds charge, is it a supercapacitor?)
The article linked in the OP isn't very clear either. They made a battery, not with an anode and a cathode, but with *two* cathodes.
Okay, the article states "this isn't a true battery". And it's just a wire loop embedded in PMMA.
WTF? Can I get those 10 minutes of my life back?
So, all the battery manufacturers will lobby Congress to have this technology made illegal. And Congress will grandstand on how they are 'supporting the free market' or some such crap and pass the law making it illegal that the battery manufacturers had written for them.
You can bet they won't make THAT mistake again. What company would pay em for that, no long term profit there. You'd need to sell AA batteries for $20 a pop.
lol, same reason you couldn't buy my OEM shock absorbers...they go 100,000 miles or 45 years...i'll let you know. Awesome design, patent well past expired, never seen them available :(
the article is missing a lot of details.. lithium polymer? standard Lithium Ion? or the current best battery the LifePo4 that already has insane battery cycle life as well as extreme tolerance to being charged poorly so you don't need a special high cost charger.
Read the article.....
Ahh, this is not even a battery but a wire loop in acrylic.. Nothing to see here kids but hype.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Can Elon incorporate this discovery quickly enough into his Giga-Factory to make the Tesla 3 an assured success, where people don't worry about wear and tear on the battery?
Letter To Iran
This will put battery companies out of business. So this invention will be stopped.
"A typical Lithium-ion battery breaks down badly between 5000-7000 cycles." Since fucking when?!? most Li-Po's have around 500 cycles when being looked after before becoming permanently 30% DoD. Who made this shit up?
I know it takes time from discovery to production. If this discovery is actually as good as it sounds, I hope Elon puts this in the batteries for Model 3. I placed an order for two of them and not expecting them until 2018. I wouldn't mind waiting a little longer if it meant that it came with improvements like this one.
"Gold nanowires"? They are saying they coat them so they don't corrode but isn't one of the main properties for which gold is valued the fact that it is highly non-reactive and doesn't typically corrode? Plus I've never heard of wires being used as an energy storage medium, nano or otherwise. I'm certainly no expert in chemistry but Popular Science isn't usually where I go to for reliable information about the latest in battery research. If this were real I'd expect to see the research come from some sort of peer reviewed source.
I bought a set of $6 LED bulbs at Costco to replace the 6 can lights in my kitchen.
These "75w" equivalent are so much brighter than the incandescents they replaced, we keep them dimmed all the time.
Based on the ridiculous California electric rates, my ROI is something like 9 months (since my wife doesn't seem to know that the switch can be put in the off position...)
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Divide that by one charge every day for 365 days and that's 275 years of battery life.
Yes please.
A marching band drum playing rabbit was seen in the hours leading up to the disappearance...
"...playing around with the battery and coated it in a thin gel layer."
Exactly what was he doing with that battery anyway!
1) Even if they demand insane fees, their patents will die eventually; there are plenty of technologies that suddenly become "it" not when they are first discovered or patented, but after the damn patents run out; yet another reason we need patent reform.
2) Soldering, form factor, connection, etc. If the device the battery is in fails, and the battery can't be removed or put into another, they win. Most laptops today, even the cheap plastic ones, don't have batteries that disconnect easily. You have to open them up. And a great many fucks as is "upgrade" before the battery's life becomes any real concern, especially in light of the much greater battery life afforded to today's laptops, so a loss of 20% of the capacity isn't as noticeable as it may have historically been.
Anecdotally, my main laptop's battery stands at just under 2,000 cycles. I'm perhaps weeks from upgrading after five years with this machine, and I've abused the shit out it. I'm not upgrading due to any structural faults, or the battery, but simply because I want something more modern. My point is this, we may never see this battery technology in mobile devices not because of some grand conspiracy like you suggest but rather by the time it's developed, we won't need it. At least, the majority likely won't.
For cars, spacecraft, etc. however, this technology may prove a godsend.
So, it was the combination of an Internet of Things connected Energizer Bunny with this type of battery that ended up creating Skynet!
Greedy bastards will patent it and demand huge fees to license the technology ... Greedy fuckers will make sure this never makes its way into anything I own.
Wrong and Wrong.
As these researchers are part of the University of California system (UC), UC owns the patent. UC's policy for licensing considers the nature of the company seeking the license. Some preference is given to smaller local companies over large multinationals for instance. Also UC retains ownership, they only license. So there is no burying the technology problem.
... buy the patent for a few million dollars and sit on it until it ran out ...
You can't. The people who made the discovery are at the University of California (UC). UC owns the patent. They don't sell, they license. They don't license to people who sit on it, you will lose your license, or at least any exclusivity. Matter of fact their policy is actually to favor small local companies. So if you are a giant national or multinational corp you have a disadvantage even licensing.
My thought as well. We won't see this in our devices any time soon unless it comes from Elon Musk via Tesla.
Not true. The University of California (UC) owns this patent. They don't allow their patents to be buried by licensees. They also favor smaller and more local licensees. UC has a pretty good system wide policy and a dedicated staff to handle everything for faculty and student researchers. Doing a social good is part of their mindset. These are the same people that gave you BSD Unix without any real strings attached.
I can see the new commercial for Energizer now: The pink fluffy Energizer bunny wearing a suit with wingtip shoes and a fedora beating a scientist, in a white lab coat, to death with a drum mallet in front of the sign at UC Irvine.
Soon after the bunny's arrival at UC Irvine you will find a pile of Coyote poo with pink fluff in it in front of the sign. UCI borders nature reserves and creek/river beds that are heavily trafficked by coyotes. They are frequently sighted around campus and adjoining neighborhoods.
> Also from the report, "Penner suggests that a more common metal, like nickel, could replace the gold if the technology catches on."
What about Silicon? It is my understanding that this kind of tech is exactly what silicon needs to be viable, and silicon has up to 10x the storage capacity.
:T:R:A:N:S:
... and see what happens. Serendipity has given us a lot of great things.
There are plenty examples of industrial equipment in use today powered by NiFe batteries with nameplates that read "Edison Company" and a date before 1900.
For all their other shortcomings, NiFe batteries really do last pretty much forever (The reason is that the side-reactions that would wreck them require ions which are utterly, profoundly insoluble in the basic environment present in the battery cells).
And make a much more expensive battery that will last many times longer than the device it's designed to power. Then what do you do with it, give it to Apple?
Or will they only be in pop-out form, a shape like AA or whatever, meaning now the trend, in electronics, towards rechargeable and non-replaceable internal batteries will be reversed, and everything will take AAa?!?
Kindofa neat idea, actually.
Penner suggests that a more common metal, like nickel, could replace the gold if the technology catches on.
An adventurous suggestion, having into account that :
We don't understand the mechanism of that yet.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Greedy fuckers will make sure this never makes its way into anything I own.
I'm betting your grandfather believed that the automakers and Big Oil were surpressing the magic carburator that would take his Ford V-8 120 miles on a gallon of gas. Forgetting that great mileage means great sales for big sedans, pick-up trucks, sport cars, travel trailers, and other heavy weight or high performance vehicles and accessories.
New tech means new products. These new batteries will find their way into everything you own.
Searching Amazon.com for "lithium ion flashlight batteries" --- the most generic of all replacement batteries --- will return 30,000 hits, an endless stream of batteries, rechargers, flashlights and other gadgets, scattered across about twenty departments or divisions of the Amazon catalog.
How long before the tech is bought and burried and/or the researchers mysteriously vanish or are found floating face down in a swimming pool?
Before someone can't make profit off batteries anymore.
supercaps have a comparatively high peak power capability.
I think that is the last big advancement needed for a widespread change to electric cars. We got the efficient motor drives, the lighter batteries with more capacity and others. The lifetime of the battery pack is the big disadvantage that is holding off many buyers. With mass demand, the price will come down. The future is now here (almost). 8-)
Add the new drone controllers, and maybe we get flying cars? ... Um ...Maybe I'd rather walk.