Researchers create 'Holy Grail' of battery technology, smartphones with 3x battery life in sight

[Shawn Knight]

Battery technology isn't all that different from computer storage technology in terms of its progression. Computer hardware (the processor, RAM, video card, etc.) has scaled incrementally over the years until we got to a point not all that long ago where mechanical hard drives became a serious bottleneck.

Solid state drives solved that issue and brought storage technology up to speed with the rest of our computer components.

The same thing can be said about battery technology. We've seen tremendous advancements in mobile devices in the last decade but the batteries that power these gadgets haven't really changed much. That's because lithium has major challenges that scientists haven't yet been able to crack... until now.

Researchers at Stanford University have created what they are calling the "Holy Grail" of battery technology - a battery with a stable lithium anode.

Batteries are composed of three basic components. There's an electrolyte to provide electrons, an anode to discharge the electrons and a cathode to receive them. The lithium in today's lithium-ion batteries is stored in the electrolyte, not in the anode. An anode of lithium would give a huge boost to battery efficiency but that's been impossible thus far because of how much they expand during charging.

To solve lithium's issues, the researchers have built a protective layer of interconnected carbon domes on top of their lithium anode. This layer is what has helped them overcome previous lithium challenges. With some additional engineering and new electrolytes, the team thinks they've found a solution that could provide mobile devices with up to three times as much battery life or an electric car with a range of 300 miles that'd only cost $25,000.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57547-researchers-create-holy-grail-of-battery-technology-smartphones-with-3x-battery-life-in-sight.html

 

[VitalyT]

There are two outstanding fields that have published endless promises over the years, according to which today we were supposed to have:

- 60+TB hard drives
- Instant-charge x10 powerful batteries

And after all the promises, we are still enjoying the stone age, compared to what was promised. Therefore, I do not believe any of those.

As for the batteries in particular, I have such an impression that either they are all nothing but lies, or some multi-billion oil hog buys them out to make sure the product never reaches the market. Which one is easier to believe - you decide for yourself.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I find it crazy how we are able to squeeze so much out of lithium. It is fascinating.

 

[Scshadow]

There are two outstanding fields that have published endless promises over the years, according to which today we were supposed to have:

- 60+TB hard drives
- Instant-charge x10 powerful batteries

And after all the promises, we are still enjoying the stone age, compared to what was promised. Therefore, I do not believe any of those.

As for the batteries in particular, I have such an impression that either they are all nothing but lies, or some multi-billion oil hog buys them out to make sure the product never reaches the market.

I really can't add anymore to that. I overwhelmingly agree that its put up or shut up time for the battery industry.

 

[cmbjive]

With some additional engineering and new electrolytes, the team thinks they've found a solution that could provide mobile devices with up to three times as much battery life or an electric car with a range of 300 miles that'd only cost $25,000.

Sure, let's go ahead and price the Model S in the same range as a Porsche 911 Carrera. That'll help sales of the Model S.

 

[ArthurZ]

Why this is not happening with the electric cars?

The world would become such a better place!

 

[Nima304]

There are two outstanding fields that have published endless promises over the years, according to which today we were supposed to have:

- 60+TB hard drives
- Instant-charge x10 powerful batteries

And after all the promises, we are still enjoying the stone age, compared to what was promised. Therefore, I do not believe any of those.

As for the batteries in particular, I have such an impression that either they are all nothing but lies, or some multi-billion oil hog buys them out to make sure the product never reaches the market. Which one is easier to believe - you decide for yourself.

Yup. Everyone remember the 1.2PB hard drive that was supposed to come out in 2012? Here's a link if you forgot: http://www.overclock.net/t/73242/1-2-pb-yes-petabyte-hard-drives-in-4-to-5-years

I've stopped paying attention to these promises a long time ago. I'll believe they have the capability to create the technology when I can go on Newegg or Amazon and buy it.

 

[davislane1]

With some additional engineering and new electrolytes, the team thinks they've found a solution that could provide mobile devices with up to three times as much battery life or an electric car with a range of 300 miles that'd only cost $25,000.

Sure, let's go ahead and price the Model S in the same range as a Porsche 911 Carrera. That'll help sales of the Model S.

A better comparison would be the S-Class. Though, I don't really see how current Model S sales ties into future battery technology.

 

[GhostRyder]

In all honesty I think while smart phones may get a huge benefit from this the biggest area is cars. Electric cars are still at a limit where even on some of the most expensive Teslas can go up to 300 miles on an electric charge, you still have the issue of charging them up which takes some time (Except when you include the limited amount of quick charge places and that it ruins the battery over time). I would say that have even around 500 miles on a charge would really bring electric cars to the front lines of being alot more feasible.

 

[amstech]

Awesome article, thanks for posting.

 

[Guest]

Wow the article states that storage problems are solved. Wow. I did not know that it has. Let me see you have a ssd that fails on you by the time you install your OS now it won't even boot. San Disk. That was my first and last experience with ssd drives. Other then my sd for photos. Also flash for documents in college. Also recall how many times I had to do presentations with a marker and white board for my power point disappear from the flash drive. Oh by the way I never remember having these issues when I was working off 3 1/2 inch floppy disks in high school or burned CDs. So much for the ssd marvel. SSD solved nothing it is a new problem all together. But don't get me wrong. The problem of hope is solved. With ssds we don't even hope to get any of the information of. We just instinctively know that we lost it all when the ssd crashes. So we don't try for hours like we use to do with CDs where we would polish it and hope that the scratch would disappear. hahahaha. Love a flash drive that won't show up after I plug it in for the 20th time. Oh it worked a minute ago.

 

[cmbjive]

With some additional engineering and new electrolytes, the team thinks they've found a solution that could provide mobile devices with up to three times as much battery life or an electric car with a range of 300 miles that'd only cost $25,000.

Sure, let's go ahead and price the Model S in the same range as a Porsche 911 Carrera. That'll help sales of the Model S.

A better comparison would be the S-Class. Though, I don't really see how current Model S sales ties into future battery technology.

Would you say that more people buying electric cars would require better battery technology? More people bought traditional cars and engines have gotten better and more fuel efficient.

As for comparison, I just used the most expensive midrange that came to mind.

 

[Guest]

"Wow the article states that storage problems are solved. Wow. I did not know that it has. Let me see you have a ssd that fails on you by the time you install your OS now it won't even boot.."

..before you give that long rubbish comment, I suggest you learn to read first..
since when the article said with the ssd solved the storage problems? Ssd solved the bottleneck problem.

 

[Guest]

A stable lithium anode in the lab is a lot different than a mass produced, affordable stable lithium anode.

 

[davislane1]

Would you say that more people buying electric cars would require better battery technology? More people bought traditional cars and engines have gotten better and more fuel efficient.

Yes to the first statement. You seem to have the cause-effect relationship backwards in the following sentence, though. Improvements in the technology are driven by the need to generate on-going new sales and meet regulatory standards. The improvement creates the demand, not the other way around. For electric cars to gain market share they need to meet the real (efficiency and reliability) and imagined (aesthetics and luxury) needs of the market. Better technology creates that appeal and subsequent demand. Price point is a short-term factor of trivial importance.

Even so, I don't see electric as the future of private transportation. In my eyes, hybrid systems will likely win out in the long run, because they give consumers far more utility than pure electric and pure ICE technology.

 

[cmbjive]

You seem to have the cause-effect relationship backwards in the following sentence, though. Improvements in the technology are driven by the need to generate on-going new sales and meet regulatory standards. The improvement creates the demand, not the other way around.

I beg to differ. Increasing demand is what drives companies to invest in making necessary improvements for their products and services. When a product is massively produced, it creates increased likelihood that a product will fail in addition to competitor products that can be marketed as better than the original. No one improves a product for which there is no demand.

Better technology does not always lead to subsequent demand. Just to give an example I'm familiar with, the N64 was technologically superior to that of the Playstation, but developers and gamers stuck with the Playstation anyway because of its ease of game development and better game choices.

That said, I agree with your final statement about electric not being the future of private transportation, but not with hybrids being the future. The ICE has always been reliable, dependable, and the most flexible and can be used in almost any application. I never saw why there is a need to change what isn't broken, enviros be damned.

 

[9Nails]

A stable lithium anode in the lab is a lot different than a mass produced, affordable stable lithium anode.

Isn't that the truth? I am starting to feel a little skeptical with University news. Not that I don't find it interesting as I dream of a better world. But at times the news can be more fascination than reality. All a bit too much theory and too little proven in real world testing.

 

[DKRON]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the new battery technology called lithium air and its been around for awhile but still hasn't been used even though its been ready since last year

 

[Mr Majestyk]

There are two outstanding fields that have published endless promises over the years, according to which today we were supposed to have:

- 60+TB hard drives
- Instant-charge x10 powerful batteries

And after all the promises, we are still enjoying the stone age, compared to what was promised. Therefore, I do not believe any of those.

As for the batteries in particular, I have such an impression that either they are all nothing but lies, or some multi-billion oil hog buys them out to make sure the product never reaches the market.

I really can't add anymore to that. I overwhelmingly agree that its put up or shut up time for the battery industry.

Fair enough, but you do realise this was university research, not a company announcement. Researcher don't make the batteries, it's up to the battery companies to implement the technology if it's viable. There's a long way to go from the lab to the retail store.

On a similar note other researchers have found by making the anode from sand, they could also greatly improve performance though not by this much.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

There are two outstanding fields that have published endless promises over the years, according to which today we were supposed to have:

- 60+TB hard drives
- Instant-charge x10 powerful batteries

And after all the promises, we are still enjoying the stone age, compared to what was promised. Therefore, I do not believe any of those.

As for the batteries in particular, I have such an impression that either they are all nothing but lies, or some multi-billion oil hog buys them out to make sure the product never reaches the market. Which one is easier to believe - you decide for yourself.

Or neither, since those 'lies' came from a University research program.

The other day I found a picture in the back of my desk drawer of me in my cubicle from about 12 years ago. On my desk was a Sony walkman with a CASSETTE player. If you are complaining that technology is moving too slowly, you are really young or really spoiled or both.

Just take the news that there was a breakthrough in such a major important area of technology and be happy about it. Cross your fingers we see it within 5 years.

 

[Guest]

A stable lithium anode in the lab is a lot different than a mass produced, affordable stable lithium anode.

I would love to see that left in a car and become a bomb hahahaha


Stable.

 

[Holotus]

Every week there's a new article saying "NEW BATTERY TECH TO REVOLUTIONIZE BATTERIES!!!".

... meanwhile nothing happens. Our batteries still suck year after year. Nothing changes.

 

[mhayen]

In all honesty I think while smart phones may get a huge benefit from this the biggest area is cars. Electric cars are still at a limit where even on some of the most expensive Teslas can go up to 300 miles on an electric charge, you still have the issue of charging them up which takes some time (Except when you include the limited amount of quick charge places and that it ruins the battery over time). I would say that have even around 500 miles on a charge would really bring electric cars to the front lines of being alot more feasible.

Absolutely. Once your car has the ability to drive as long as you do in a single day, recharge time is a moot point (so long as it doesn't take more than 8 hours). At 500 miles, that just about does it for most people. Driving an average of 70 mph, that'll go for just over 7 hours. Sure you can drive for more than that in a single day, and I have, but I'd be just as happy to stop at a hotel for the night on long trips.

 

[Phr3d]

In all honesty I think while smart phones may get a huge benefit from this the biggest area is cars. Electric cars are still at a limit where even on some of the most expensive Teslas can go up to 300 miles on an electric charge, you still have the issue of charging them up which takes some time (Except when you include the limited amount of quick charge places and that it ruins the battery over time). I would say that have even around 500 miles on a charge would really bring electric cars to the front lines of being alot more feasible.

I missed any reports about using one of the 20-minute Supercharging stations across the country and covering both coasts caused any issues with Tesla's battery pack, do you have a link to a technical source that discusses that? FWIW, having an 8-year warranty on the battery pack and providing a Quick Charge method that can harm the warranted pack seems counter-productive.

 

[Railman]

In all honesty I think while smart phones may get a huge benefit from this the biggest area is cars. Electric cars are still at a limit where even on some of the most expensive Teslas can go up to 300 miles on an electric charge, you still have the issue of charging them up which takes some time (Except when you include the limited amount of quick charge places and that it ruins the battery over time). I would say that have even around 500 miles on a charge would really bring electric cars to the front lines of being alot more feasible.

I missed any reports about using one of the 20-minute Supercharging stations across the country and covering both coasts caused any issues with Tesla's battery pack, do you have a link to a technical source that discusses that? FWIW, having an 8-year warranty on the battery pack and providing a Quick Charge method that can harm the warranted pack seems counter-productive.

One of the reasons given for avoiding electric cars is the cost of replacing the batteries but I gather that the batteries tend to fail at different times so you never have to replace a full set of batteries in one go. In-fact replacing batteries should be seen as normal wear & tear. A bit like replacing a tyre.