Lithium Ion Battery - 100 Fold Performance Improvement?
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President Barack Obama during his many speeches has always credited the US of A for its ability to solve problems and come up with solutions. For some this fell on deaf ears since they would rather concentrate only on the current economic crisis and trying to convince us that the Presidents policies won’t work. Well the kids over at MIT are ready to prove that the US of A still has what it takes when it comes to over coming ANY technology obstacle that sits in our way.
Here comes the new lithium ion super batteries that will charge in less than 5 minutes. According to an article over at gizmag it states that:
March 16, 2009 Researchers have developed a new advanced Lithium Ion battery that will allow mobile phone and laptop computers to be fully charged in seconds. Electric car batteries may be charged in as little as five minutes, removing one of the main barriers to wider uptake of EVs. Solar and wind power generation could also benefit as better batteries could be used to store surplus energy.
MIT researchers Byoungwoo Kang & Gerbrand Ceder have discovered a way to make a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery charge and discharge about as fast as a supercapacitor. In a typical lithium ion cell when a current is applied to charge the cell, lithium ions move away from the cathode compound and are trapped at the anode storage medium. When the battery discharges producing current, those ions travel back to the cathode medium and in so doing produce current flow.
Speed of charging in typical lithium-ion cells is slowed by virtue of the fact that it takes time for the lithium ion to move off the cathode material. Various techniques have been tried to increase that speed including the nanoparticle doping strategy that A123 Systems uses.
If this in fact true and if these new batteries can be produced inexpensively, the electric car will take a giant leap. Couple this with a new electric grid and more wind turbines, maybe, just maybe we will be able to wean ourselves on our addiction to oil.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
2 Comments
zenium
March 16th, 2009
at 5:56pm
Sounds good to me.
Only one catch this is 2009 not 1947 when the transitor was developed. Then a company like AT&T Bell Labs would release the discovery like this to the world. And we would all see the an explosion of potential benefits and the growth in opportunities to enrich our lives.
Now in 2009 something like this will be patented, licensed, supresss and litigated on patent infringements.
I think I like the old methods for these major breakthroughs.
badandy
April 4th, 2009
at 11:33pm
zenium, I Agree. A patent should only be good for a maximum of 5 years if the holder “sits” on it.
A patent is supposed to protect your idea so you can bring something to the market. That’s a good idea! But to purchase a patent to keep anybody else from developing a product, and you have no intent on bringing a product to the market based on that patent, you should loose the patent.