High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries on the Way

Scientists have been pondering ways to get more charge out of rechargeable batteries for years. Interest in the topic was recently renewed, when laptop batteries manufactured by Sony started exploding over a year ago. Suddenly, the focus was no longer just on how to get more power and life into a battery, but how to make the battery safer as well. Researchers from the Department of Energy at the Argonne National Laboratory may have found a way to accomplish both goals.

This new generation of lithium-ion batteries, shown at a meeting of the Electrochemical Society in May, uses a series of new technologies, like nanotechnology, to create the composite materials for generating the electrodes on the cells inside the battery. So far, scientists have managed to measure twice the charge storage capacity in the new batteries, and they estimate that manufacturing costs will be lower than traditional Li-ion batteries because of the materials (primarily manganese) required for the new nano-crystal electrodes.

The researchers working on the project are hoping that the new technology can hold more charge at lower temperatures, and, since manufacturing will be cheaper, that the market will adopt the new technology quickly. The new batteries have the potential to improve consumer electronics, medical devices, and even hybrid automobiles.