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A new ultrabattery?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:01 pm
by TallDave
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? ... 5547719698
A new kind of portable electrochemical battery that can produce thousands of hours of power - and soon replace the expensive regular or rechargeable batteries in hearing aids and sensors and eventually in cellphones, laptop computers and even electric cars - has been developed at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Prof. Yair Ein-Eli in his Technion lab, where he invented a battery that is potentially as eco-friendly as sand.
Photo: Technion
The unique battery is based on silicon as a fuel that reverts to its original sand. The battery can also be left on the shelf for years and inserted into a device to provide immediate power.
I'm mildly skeptical...
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:24 pm
by Diogenes
Heh. The site is overloaded.
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:29 am
by hanelyp
A silicon-air fuel cell certainly has energy potential to be plausible.
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:50 am
by Art Carlson
An amazing report. The only technical spec they give is "thousands of hours".
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:44 am
by chrismb
... and that it is a silicon-silicon oxide process. The electro-chemists amongst us should be able to do a quick calc to see what the max power density is for such a battery, and derive a current for the "1000's hrs of power". Answers would be acceptable in units of pA, please!.....
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:55 am
by Betruger
Do you guys not have access to the paper, or does that not detail what you're looking for either?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:32 am
by Skipjack
Yep, some more details would be really great. I would like to see KW/h per kilogram and KW per hour maximum output. To me that is what makes the most sense. Also how expensive will it be per KW/h.
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:49 am
by Art Carlson
Betruger wrote:Do you guys not have access to the paper, or does that not detail what you're looking for either?
The abstract is
here as
20. Silicon–air batteries:
A new “metal”–air battery based on silicon–oxygen couple is described. Silicon–air battery employing EMI·2.3HF·F room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as an electrolyte and highly-doped silicon wafers as anodes (fuels) has an undetectable self-discharge rate and high tolerance to the environment (extreme moisture/dry conditions). Such a battery yields an effectively infinite shelf life with an average working voltage of 1–1.2 V. Silicon–air battery can support relatively high current densities (up to 0.3 mA/cm2) drawn from flat polished silicon wafers anodes. Such batteries may find immediate applications, as they can provide an internal, built-in autonomous and self sustained energy source.
I couldn't find the full text online.
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:41 pm
by Betruger
I'll send you a copy at the same address as last time.
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:35 am
by krenshala
The Article wrote:Ordinary portable batteries are composed of a positive electrode called a cathode and a negative one called an anode.
Um, isn't the cathode the negative terminal? Or should I ignore this because its too technical for mainstream media to get correct?
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:45 am
by vankirkc
Art Carlson wrote:Betruger wrote:Do you guys not have access to the paper, or does that not detail what you're looking for either?
The abstract is
here as
20. Silicon–air batteries:
A new “metal”–air battery based on silicon–oxygen couple is described. Silicon–air battery employing EMI·2.3HF·F room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as an electrolyte and highly-doped silicon wafers as anodes (fuels) has an undetectable self-discharge rate and high tolerance to the environment (extreme moisture/dry conditions). Such a battery yields an effectively infinite shelf life with an average working voltage of 1–1.2 V. Silicon–air battery can support relatively high current densities (up to 0.3 mA/cm2) drawn from flat polished silicon wafers anodes. Such batteries may find immediate applications, as they can provide an internal, built-in autonomous and self sustained energy source.
I couldn't find the full text online.
Isn't 0.3 mA/cm2 rather wimpy? I quick google of Lithium Ion density suggests they average 10 mA/cm2.
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:16 am
by Art Carlson
krenshala wrote:The Article wrote:Ordinary portable batteries are composed of a positive electrode called a cathode and a negative one called an anode.
Um, isn't the cathode the negative terminal? Or should I ignore this because its too technical for mainstream media to get correct?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode[quote]A widespread misconception is that cathode polarity is always negative. ... Consequently, as can be seen from the following examples, in a device which consumes power the cathode is negative, and in a device which provides power the cathode is positive[/quote]I always have trouble with this too.
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:27 am
by chrismb
It stumped me when I first came across looking at some faulty batteries. The guys sent a diagram and I thought "eh!?!", but it made sense after thinking about it - the cathode is where the electrons come from....the andoe is what attracts the electrons.
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:35 am
by krenshala
Ah, that makes sense. I hadn't thought of it this way before.