BBC Article about MIT Battery Recharging Breakthough

[TestDrive]

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Battery that 'charges in seconds'

A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be charged in just seconds.

Here is another brief article from Nature On-line, but not the technical paper which requires payment.

Not sure if this is the best forum to post this in - admins, feel free to move it to a more appropriate forum.

[Blue Bomber Man]

Maybe eventually the forums will get switched: Electric Vehicles; Electric Free Vehicles

I was reading about MIT's breakthrough last night on Google News. This has the potential to be quite the game changer that really gets electric vehicles to the mainstream. MIT is quite good about quickly selling it's technology so that it gets to the market faster. I believe the article I read quoted MIT thinking that it could feasibly hit the market in 2-3 years.

[Funny]

I have this article, thanks to a friend at work. PM me if you would like me to email it to you. This might have some seriously interesting applications in Hybrids.

BTW it is an 818Kb article. MetroMPG, Daox, SVOBoy, or any other moderator reading this, please would you increase the file size for PDF we can attach if possible, it is a real hinderance having to do this with technical articles. Thanks in advance. -Funny-

[Blue Bomber Man]

I would love to see this article Funny. If you could forward it to my email that would be awesome, thanks! benwerlow2@hotmail.com

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

They interview Gerbrand Ceder, who is the head of the MIT lab where they developed this battery, on Talk of the nation Science Friday:

Science Friday Archives: Building a Better Battery

They have licensed it to 2 companies, 1 foreign and 1 in the US (probably A123?).

The battery could be charged in about 1 minute; if you have the capability! And it will absorb all the regenerative power you can throw at it. This is a big development.

[cfg83]

TestDrive -

Man oh man things may be getting better. With PC energy needs and Moore's law to push things along, I've been waiting for something good to happen on the battery front.

Is the battery projected to have the same life-span/number of charges?

CarloSW2

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

As I understand it from the interview (see audio link in the SciFri link above) the basic battery chemistry is the same as any lithium iron phosphate battery (i.e. pretty darn good) and it is most likely better in terms of life span and number of recharges; for the same reasons that let it charge/discharge so quickly. It doesn't get nearly as hot since the surface area is so much greater, and the chemical storage is a lot more "capable".

[MPaulHolmes]

I'm glad they are considering other materials that would share these fast charging characteristics. Lithium Batteries are getting cheaper, but something like Sodium would be way more plentiful.

[Funny]

The reason that they use Lithium over Sodium in batteries is due to the energy density that the Lithium contains. Here's and article from ezine...

Lithium Ion Batteries - What You Need to Know About Li-Ion Technology

Your question, MPaul, isn't specifically answered. However, if you are a student of chemistry, you know that both Sodium and Lithium react Violently when in the presence of water, and if I recall correctly Lithium is just more stable in that arena than Sodium. In fact I am not sure if it's possible to create NaFe2PO3 like the Lithium can. Ignore the above ramblings, it pre-coffee time....
Let's hope we all find an answer to that question soon, it's going to bug me all day.

[MPaulHolmes]

A multifunctional 3.5[thinsp]V iron-based phosphate cathode for rechargeable batteries : Abstract : Nature Materials

Hey, those guys are researching alternative cathodes because of the possible world Lithium shortage. They mention Sodium Iron Phosphate. The full article is $18 though.

Entropy Production: Sodium-ion Batteries

This guy provides a summary of the article.