The world has been waiting for some time now for someone to make the kind of breakthrough in battery technology that will render all other ...
The world has been waiting for some time now for someone to make the kind of breakthrough in battery technology that will render all other batteries obsolete overnight and open up a whole new vista of mobile and wireless applications from cars to communications devices. But it hasn’t happened yet. Instead, what has tended to happen is that existing Battery technology has become steadily better; more lightweight, more efficient and more durable – but essentially the same. We haven’t yet had that eureka type moment that will truly turn the technology world upside down. In this post you will find an in-depth Review of Top Best Available Rechargeable Batteries for Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, Cameras & other Digital Devices/Products and Research Report on Future of Rechargeable Batteries.
Perhaps we never will, of course. We may, instead, continue to see incremental developments that improve things slightly and continually. But to some extent, it’s the lack of a real battery technology breakthrough that is holding up so many other technological breakthroughs.
This bottleneck, in turn, means big business, and a huge amount of emphasis on cutting-edge research. The overall dollar value of the world market for rechargeable batteries is currently estimated at $14 billion. But it’s forecast to grow to close to $55 billion by the year 2020 – hence the focus on research.
Researchers of Materials & Surface Science Institute (MSSI) at University of Limerick, Ireland, appears to have developed a technology which doubles the capacity of lithium-ion battery anodes. What’s more – this increased capacity is successfully retained even when the batteries have been charged then discharged over a thousand times.
The breakthrough has come through the use of germanium rather than graphite, which is currently used for lithium-ion batteries. Graphite has relatively low capacity, whilst germanium’s is far higher-capacity. The problem is that when previously tired, germanium has had the somewhat unhelpful habit of disintegrating after just a few charge cycles. But through the use of nanotechnology, MSSI’s researchers have reportedly found a way of restructuring the germanium into a stable and porous material through the use of nanowires – which has seemingly solved the problem.
So this could open the door for smaller batteries which are lighter and hold a greater charge for a longer period in a stable way – very much the Holy Grail of battery technology. The implications for Mobile technology are obvious, but the wider implications for electric vehicles and other applications could be even more fundamental.
Quite how near we are to full-scale, mainstream production, however, is anyone’s guess as things stand. MSSI will be keen to sign commercial agreements with the right partner(s) or to simply sell the rights – or some combination therein. But what we can say with a good degree of confidence, now, is that far superior lithium-ion batteries are coming soon to a place near you – probably staring with your mobile phone.
Until then, we have to make do with the best batteries out there. The best place to source these are generally the top-end tech-based suppliers like Premier Farnell, Anand and RS Components. If you buy batteries online from RS components or from Amazon Store battery section, in particular, the website includes full technical specifications on lithium coin cell batteries, rechargeable NiMH batteries and lithium thionyl chloride batteries etc.
The same site also includes a content hub to help you decide which batteries are best for the application you need. And over the longer term, such suppliers are also the most likely to be suppliers of cutting-edge batteries which, it would seem, may soon be germanium-based.
Perhaps we never will, of course. We may, instead, continue to see incremental developments that improve things slightly and continually. But to some extent, it’s the lack of a real battery technology breakthrough that is holding up so many other technological breakthroughs.
This bottleneck, in turn, means big business, and a huge amount of emphasis on cutting-edge research. The overall dollar value of the world market for rechargeable batteries is currently estimated at $14 billion. But it’s forecast to grow to close to $55 billion by the year 2020 – hence the focus on research.
Researchers of Materials & Surface Science Institute (MSSI) at University of Limerick, Ireland, appears to have developed a technology which doubles the capacity of lithium-ion battery anodes. What’s more – this increased capacity is successfully retained even when the batteries have been charged then discharged over a thousand times.
The breakthrough has come through the use of germanium rather than graphite, which is currently used for lithium-ion batteries. Graphite has relatively low capacity, whilst germanium’s is far higher-capacity. The problem is that when previously tired, germanium has had the somewhat unhelpful habit of disintegrating after just a few charge cycles. But through the use of nanotechnology, MSSI’s researchers have reportedly found a way of restructuring the germanium into a stable and porous material through the use of nanowires – which has seemingly solved the problem.
So this could open the door for smaller batteries which are lighter and hold a greater charge for a longer period in a stable way – very much the Holy Grail of battery technology. The implications for Mobile technology are obvious, but the wider implications for electric vehicles and other applications could be even more fundamental.
Quite how near we are to full-scale, mainstream production, however, is anyone’s guess as things stand. MSSI will be keen to sign commercial agreements with the right partner(s) or to simply sell the rights – or some combination therein. But what we can say with a good degree of confidence, now, is that far superior lithium-ion batteries are coming soon to a place near you – probably staring with your mobile phone.
Until then, we have to make do with the best batteries out there. The best place to source these are generally the top-end tech-based suppliers like Premier Farnell, Anand and RS Components. If you buy batteries online from RS components or from Amazon Store battery section, in particular, the website includes full technical specifications on lithium coin cell batteries, rechargeable NiMH batteries and lithium thionyl chloride batteries etc.
The same site also includes a content hub to help you decide which batteries are best for the application you need. And over the longer term, such suppliers are also the most likely to be suppliers of cutting-edge batteries which, it would seem, may soon be germanium-based.
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