Lithium Si-Graphene battery anode
 

I haven't found this discussed on ecomodder, it seems to be a month-old news:
-mort

Graphene/graphane is truly a wonder material.

I follow the news on Science Daily:Nanotechnology News; here is their current top story:

Paper-and-Scissors Technique Rocks the Nano World: Future Nanofluidic Devices for Batteries, Water Purification Systems

Real question is if they can take a high number of cycles.

Time will tell. Nanoscale additive manufacture results in fewer flaws than whittling things out of bulk materials.

It would be nice if it pans out.
Every few months I hear about some break through battery technology that will be a vast improvement over current technology.
And then never hear any more about it.

I think out of the near dozen I have read about over the years only lithium polymer has delivered anything and it never lived up to the early hype expectations.

A few years back someone announced a double-smelting process that would make titanium as cheap as aluminum. I really wanted to see that one turn out.

The comet Kohoutek was a disappointment, too.

Ahh yes I totally dismissed that one.
Too bad because titanium oxide is fairly common and cheap.
I occasionally work with titanium, weld it, cut it, shape it.
Typically I can pick up scrap for as cheaply as $10 per pound normally its about $25 a pound for larger good clean reuseable scrap.
For a time full retail price was close to $100/lb.

There's a lot of this new material stuff going on, I remember reading about it ever since I was like 8, but none of it has ever become commercially available. People are always claiming to be able to produce some new composite material that's stronger and stiffer for less money. Well, MMC has been used in a handful of applications I guess, that's about it. Makes you wonder where all that VC money goes.

oil pan 4 -- With that and your truck bumper, it sounds like you have a handle on scrap metal prices. About the time you got your bumper I picked up a piece of sheet aluminum at the local hippy recyclers. A piece the size of a license plate cost $5.

serialk11r -- The stuff sneaks in under the radar.

Here's a liquid screen protector that appears to be a first-to-market for Liquid Glass. But Oakley seems to have the same product for their glasses that plays up the hydrophobic aspect.

Nanoscale ceramic clear coat has been used by Mercedes since 2003: Nano paint technology | The Chronicle Herald. You can buy the stuff; but my bookmarks are in such disarray I can't give you the Brand. Similarly I can't find the link I had for a good discussion of a clear-coat paint that is as hard as milled aluminum. Here's a link I *can* find: Automotive OEM Coatings| Aerospace Coating| Marine Paint| Nanocoatings.

Aren't things moving too fast already? Socks with colloidal silver in them have been on the market for years and people are just now getting worried about the effect on municipal sewage systems.

MMC?

Here are two more from Science Daily:

Making steam with sunlight and nanoparticles at 24% efficiency. I'm picturing a gas/solar hybrid steam engine:
Super-Efficient Solar-Energy Technology: ‘Solar Steam’ So Effective It Can Make Steam from Icy Cold Water

A carbon nanotube twisted up like the rubber band in a model airplane. With both ends fixed you get contractile force like a muscle. With one end fixed you get rotational torque.
Wax-Filled Nanotech Yarn Behaves Like Powerful, Super-Strong Muscle