Battery tech starts catching up to high tech
Nanotechnology is giving batteries, often considered a weak link in electronics, a much-needed boost.
from the March 15, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Conversion kit makes a hybrid car even better
A123 created a conversion kit (yet to hit the market) that turns normal hybrids into plug-in hybrids capable of getting 150 m.p.g. in city driving. Plug-ins require an overnight charge from a normal wall socket to get the extra mileage. According to 2007 Environmental Protection Agency estimates, the Toyota Prius gets 60 m.p.g. General Motors also contracted A123 to help produce the Saturn Green Line Vue, a plug-in hybrid.
Addressing another challenge facing the battery industry, mPhase created a battery with an indefinite shelf life. Traditional batteries, like AAs, gradually lose power even when they're not being used. Some can lose up to half of their charge over five years in storage.
Using nanomaterials and basic physics principles, mPhase kept the chemicals inside the battery from mixing – the cause of gradual power leakage – until it was used. Such batteries could be used for emergency lighting systems, for example, that might not be used for 10 years, but would require full power when needed.
While current battery innovations offer exciting opportunities, science fiction-like possibilities beckon.
Prof. Angela Belcher, a biomolecular materials chemist at MIT, is trying to use biological methods, such as viruses, to assemble batteries. "The goal is to have biology make things in an environmentally friendly way," says Professor Belcher.
Belcher's virus-assembled batteries are thin, transparent sheets that look like plastic wrap. They could be used to create smart credit cards or lightweight hearing-aid batteries. Eventually, Belcher hopes to weave battery cells into textile fibers to create battery-powered fabrics. Soldiers might plug night-vision goggles into their uniforms, for example, instead of traditional batteries.
Professor Chiang, who also researches self- assembling batteries, imagines an ink-like substance that would allow one to "paint" a battery onto a device.
As far-fetched as it seems, Chiang is optimistic that such advances are within reach. "We're not talking about something that's going to take 20 or 30 years, within the next decade it could very well happen," he says.
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