Energy Storage

BASF has invested $50 million to acquire an equity ownership position in Sion Power, developers of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, based in Tucson, Arizona.

At Eco Products 2011 in Tokyo, Sony demonstrated a battery which runs on shredded paper and produces water as waste.

Computer giant Apple recently applied for patents for hydrogen batteries, which may make lighter batteries that are more energy efficient and therefore last longer perhaps for weeks at a time.

Imagine a cellphone battery that stayed charged for more than a week and recharged in just 15 minutes. That dream battery could be closer to reality thanks to Northwestern University research.

Harvard biologist and engineer Peter Girguis presented his research on a living battery at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean which is fueled by microbes that live near hydrothermal vents.

The annual printed electronics award winners were announced at the IDTechEx Awards Dinner in Santa Clara, California. The awards recognize outstanding progress in the development and commercialization of printed electronics, an industry that produces a huge amount of technical innovation which will be used in many products.

The PolyPlus lithium battery uses ordinary seawater or air interacting with lithium to deliver unprecedented energy density levels.

Energy harvesting comes to the fore with electric vehicles because the price they pay for being environmental and exhibiting many performance advantages is that they have limited energy available.

Stanford researchers have developed part of that dream battery, a new electrode that employs crystalline nanoparticles of a copper compound. In laboratory tests, the electrode survived 40,000 cycles of charging and discharging, after which it could still be charged to more than 80 percent of its original charge capacity.

Like most inventors, Jefferson Lab scientist Xin Zhao's moment of inspiration was prompted by a need, and the result was an invention that could someday see batteries in electric vehicles and similar devices boosted or replaced by high-power, high-capacity, fast-charge/discharge energy storage systems using graphene.

FDK and Asahi Kasei today concluded a basic agreement to establish a joint-venture company for the combined operation of a lithium ion capacitor (LIC) business.

In historical terms, the death of the flint tool, cooking by dung and other bygone technologies occurred very rapidly. This was because several factors conspired to bring in the better alternative and this created a multiplier effect. So it is with lead acid batteries. To this huge industry and the magazines that write about it, there is a long term, if unspectacular, future for the lead acid battery in vehicles - the main use.

In historical terms, the death of the flint tool, cooking by dung and other bygone technologies occurred very rapidly. This was because several factors conspired to bring in the better alternative and this created a multiplier effect. So it is with lead acid batteries. To this huge industry and the magazines that write about it, there is a long term, if unspectacular, future for the lead acid battery in vehicles - the main use.