Doubling Lithium-Ion Battery Storage
12:13 PM @ Friday - 17 September, 2010
The United States-based company Amprius says it has developed batteries capable of storing twice as much energy as anything on the market today, by using nanostructured silicon electrodes. Portable electronics will be able to run 40 percent longer without a recharge, according to this startup company. Amprius is partnering with several as-yet unnamed major consumer electronics manufacturers, and is working with several major automakers who are considering using the electrode materials in batteries for electric vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries have used carbon anodes for the last 30 years, even though silicon has 10 times the theoretical lithium storage capacity of carbon. Silicon has proved to be challenging as a practical battery anode as it tends to swell and crack. Amprius has, however, built upon work conducted by Yi Cui, a materials science and engineering professor at Stanford University, and developed silicon nanowires, with a reinforcing metal core, that can be used as a battery anode, and have the ability to store three times more energy than carbon anodes by weight. Kang Sun, the CEO of Amprius, says that the company is moving aggressively to bring its batteries to electric vehicles. "We are in a hurry, because electrification is moving forward faster than anyone thought," he said, noting that there are already about 80 electric vehicle makers in China.
(Source: www.merid.org)
