Batteries power our world, from the smartphones in our pockets to the electric cars that are gaining immense popularity. But the batteries that we make use of every day aren’t the most efficient, and many scientists around the world are hard at work creating new types of next-gen batteries to fulfil a growing need for more powerful batteries.
Sand Batteries
This alternative form of lithium-ion battery utilizes silicon to perform three times better than present li-ion graphite batteries. The battery is still lithium-ion like the one in your smartphone, but in the anode it utilizes silicon rather than graphite.
Scientists at the University of California Riverside have been focusing on nano silicon for a while, but it has been degrading too fast and creating it in large amounts is difficult. It can be purified by using sand, then powdered with salt and magnesium before being boiled to extract oxygen that results in silicon.
The material is porous and three-dimensional, which helps with the batteries’ efficiency and, possibly, their life span. This study was initially taken up in 2014 and is now coming to fruition.
Golden Nanowire Batteries
At the University of California, researchers have created nanowire batteries that can be recharged far more often than conventional battery technology.
For potential batteries, Nanowires, a thousand times smaller than a human hair, pose massive potential. But when recharging, they are constantly breaking down. This finding utilizes nanowires of gold to prevent this using a gel electrolyte.
In over 200,000 tests over three months, these batteries were screened for recharging and yielded no degradation at all. The application for these batteries is almost limitless, and we could see them powering the next generation of smartphone, whether they’re used for playing video games, making calls, or enjoying Bet365 NZ.
Solid State Batteries
Traditionally, solid state batteries give strength but at the expense of transmitting electrolytes. A document released by researchers from Toyota talks about their testing of a solid state battery using superionic drivers of sulfide.
The outcome is a battery that can be fully charged or discharged in just seven minutes at super capacitor concentrations-making it perfect for vehicles. Because it’s so strong, it means that these batteries are far more stable than what’s being used in modern cars. It should also be possible for the solid-state device to operate in temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius and up to one hundred.
Grabat Graphene Batteries
Graphene batteries can be one of the most accessible batteries in development. Grabat has created graphene batteries that could provide a driving range of up to 500 miles on a load for electric cars.
Graphenano, the company behind the development, says that in just a few minutes the batteries can be charged to full and can charge and discharge 33 times faster than lithium ion. Discharge is also essential for items like vehicles that require large quantities of energy to be used at any given time.
While Grabat batteries have yet to see any real usage in electric vehicles, it’s believed that they have the potential to be the most popular type of battery in newer cars, with graphene being one of the world’s best “super materials”.