Advances in batteries/energy thread

[ScienceRocks]

Samsung Develops Tech to Double Lithium Battery Capacity

The research arm of Samsung Electronics announced on June 25 that it has developed a technology to make a silicon cathode material for coating high crystal graphene on a silicon surface to realize an energy density almost two times more than that of existing lithium batteries.

Existing lithium batteries, which were developed and commercialized by Sony in the 90’s, has been developed in a way of extending the capacity rather than increasing the life and density owing to limitations of material itself. The expansion of capacity has remained at best two times more than that of the first commercialized batteries.

Currently, the development of high-capacity battery materials has been mostly done in the United States. In particular, the research is active on silicon as a substitute material capable of raising the capacity more than 10 times that of the graphite currently used as an existing cathode material. There is, however, still the technological problem of the shortening the battery life by repeated charging and discharging.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Samsung Dramatically Increases Battery Capacity (Nearly Doubles It)
June 30th, 2015 by Nicholas Brown

Samsung Dramatically Increases Battery Capacity

Kompulsa

Samsung researchers have developed a new technology that enables them to coat silicon battery cathodes with high crystal graphene. This means that they can now virtually double the capacity of lithium-ion batteries! This energy density increase could almost double the range of electric vehicles without adding a single pound of weight. This could also double the electric-mode range of plug-in hybrid cars, significantly reducing reliance on their built-in gasoline engines.

 

[CultureCitizen]

Samsung Dramatically Increases Battery Capacity (Nearly Doubles It)
June 30th, 2015 by Nicholas Brown

Samsung Dramatically Increases Battery Capacity

Kompulsa

Samsung researchers have developed a new technology that enables them to coat silicon battery cathodes with high crystal graphene. This means that they can now virtually double the capacity of lithium-ion batteries! This energy density increase could almost double the range of electric vehicles without adding a single pound of weight. This could also double the electric-mode range of plug-in hybrid cars, significantly reducing reliance on their built-in gasoline engines.

Hydraulic Energy Storage seems the best option with the current technology :
Cheap, small footprint. efficient.
It will also become a really good option for a startup within the next 10 years.

 

[HenryBHough]

They're running battery powered buses in York, England.

Well....they might be in the next week or two but not just now.

That's because one of the 11 bought burst into flames about a week ago and they're still trying to figure out how to keep the remaining 10 from doing the same.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Suntech Ramps Up Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency Again, Beats Own Record

Published on July 9th, 2015 | by Tina Casey

The Chinese solar company Suntech has roared back to life with a new silicon solar cell efficiency record, just two months after setting a previous record...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Phosphorene could lead to ultrathin solar cells
How to make it using simple sticky tape; peeling off layers changes its properties
July 22, 2015


Australian National University | Sticky tape the key to ultrathin solar cells

Scientists at Australian National University (ANU) have used simple transparent sticky (aka “Scotch”) tape to create single-atom-thick layers of phosphorene from “black phosphorus,” a black crystalline form of phosphorus similar to graphite (which is used to create graphene).

Unlike graphene, phosphorene is a natural semiconductor that can be switched… read more

 

[sealybobo]

---This thread will have the latest advances in batteries @ energy technology----Batteries, Wind, solar, wave, oil, coal, nuclear, fusion, etc...This is modeled after the threads in the science forum. I will consider making another thread for general news...We will see.

Texas Instruments brings fast charging, extended life to Li-ion batteries

By Myriam Joire posted Jun 7th 2013 9:14AM 19

Texas Instruments brings fast charging, extended life to Li-ion batteries

Yesterday Texas Instruments introduced a couple of new chipsets (fuel gauge an charger ICs) designed to improve the charging speed and life expectancy of single-cell Li-ion batteries. The technology, called MaxLife, is expected to provide an improvement of up to 30 percent in battery service life and faster charging times. Cell impedance is carefully monitored by the fuel gauge chip while the charger IC uses a model of battery degradation to charge the cell in the most optimal way. Both chips are connected via an I2C bus to form an autonomous battery management system which, according to the company, is safer and more thermally efficient than existing solutions. The two chipsets (2.5A and 4.5A) are now available along with a development kit, so it's only a matter of time until this technology lands into handsets and other devices that use single-cell Li-ion batteries

Mobile phone users are frustrated when their batteries' charge doesn't last as long after months of daily charging and discharging. TI's MaxLife technology leverages an innovative degradation modeling system to minimize charge time while extending battery service life – as much as 30 percent according to lab tests. Based on TI's popular Impedance Track™ battery capacity measurement technology, the MaxLife algorithm accurately predicts and avoids charge conditions that could degrade the battery.

Texas Instruments brings fast charging, extended life to Li-ion batteries

Pbs is doing a show on how much we and other countries like china are doing more and more with the power of the sun. Wind solar panels even harnessing currents. We have 7 billion people and ten billion by 2050. We can't rely on coal forever.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Solar to increase efficiency 50%

The humble butterfly could hold the key to unlocking new techniques to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient, pioneering new research has shown.

A team of experts from the University of Exeter has examined new techniques for generating photovoltaic (PV) energy – or ways in which to convert light into power.
They showed that by mimicking the v-shaped posture adopted by Cabbage White butterflies to heat up their flight muscles before take-off, the amount of power produced by solar panels can increase by almost 50 per cent.
Crucially, by replicating this ‘wing-like’ structure, the power-to-weight ratio of the overall solar energy structure is increased 17-fold, making it vastly more efficient.
The research by the team from both the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) and the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, based at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, is published in the leading scientific journal,Scientific Reports.

 

[sealybobo]

Solar to increase efficiency 50%

The humble butterfly could hold the key to unlocking new techniques to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient, pioneering new research has shown.

A team of experts from the University of Exeter has examined new techniques for generating photovoltaic (PV) energy – or ways in which to convert light into power.
They showed that by mimicking the v-shaped posture adopted by Cabbage White butterflies to heat up their flight muscles before take-off, the amount of power produced by solar panels can increase by almost 50 per cent.
Crucially, by replicating this ‘wing-like’ structure, the power-to-weight ratio of the overall solar energy structure is increased 17-fold, making it vastly more efficient.
The research by the team from both the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) and the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, based at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, is published in the leading scientific journal,Scientific Reports.

I saw the pbs special about all the ways we can harness the energy from the sun. Not only solar and wind come from the sun. So do the currents which rise and fall 50 ft per day. I said a long time ago we should be able to harness ocean currents.

 

[ScienceRocks]

World's first "aqueous solar flow battery" outperforms traditional lithium-iodine batteries
By Nick Lavars - August 3, 2015 3 Pictures

The scientists that revealed the "world's first solar battery" last year are now, following some modifications, reporting its first significant performance milestone. The device essentially fits a battery and solar cell into the one package, and has now been tested against traditional lithium-iodine batteries, over which the researchers are claiming energy savings of 20 percent.

 

[there4eyeM]

Thanks for all this informative, promising news. Nay-sayers are in despair!

 

[Wyatt earp]

They're running battery powered buses in York, England.

Well....they might be in the next week or two but not just now.

That's because one of the 11 bought burst into flames about a week ago and they're still trying to figure out how to keep the remaining 10 from doing the same.

In Senca SC that's all they run, been operational for a year now, batterys take like 10 mins to charge good for 40 miles.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Magnesium diboride superconductors can lower the cost of wind turbine generator coils by over fifteen times

In January 2001, it was announced that MgB2 (magnesium diboride), a compound that was well known to chemists, was superconducting up to 39 Kelvin. Building on this discovery, Hyper Tech was formed in 2001 to use the compound to create a high-performing, low cost superconducting wire. Hyper Tech developed and patented a continuous tube forming...

 

[ScienceRocks]

China will start construction of a 600 MWe fourth generation nuclear reactor and it could be Terrapower traveling wave reactor

Construction of the Xipu fast neutron reactor nuclear power demonstrative project in east China's Fujian province is designed to start at the end of 2017, China Business News quoted Xu Mi, an academician with Chinese Academy of Engineering, as saying. The demonstrative nuclear power project, designed with 600,000kw (600 MWe) installed capacity,...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Helion Energy raised $10.9 million and has filed to raise $21 million which would be enough to build a breakeven scale fusion machine in 2016-2017

Helion Energy has raised $10.6 million in a new funding round in July, 2015 to develop technology that aims to create a fusion reactor to generate power. The company disclosed the funds in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Helion plans to raise more than $21 million total in the continuing round. Nextbigfuture...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor Update with Video of Technical Presentation made at Princeton

Lockheed Martin Skunkworks is developing a compact fusion reactor concept, CFR. The novel magnetic cusp configuration would allow for stable plasmas in a geometry amenable to economical power plants and power sources. The details of the CFR configuration will be discussed along with a status of the current plasma confinement experiments underway...

Read more »

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists have increased the efficiency of the artificial leaf from a previous 18% to 22% energy efficiency

The world could one day be powered by photosynthesis from artificial leaves, say researchers from Monash University in Melbourne. Their system to turn water into fuel, using nothing but solar energy, could be used to run cars, houses and even whole communities.
The 'artificial leaf' created by researchers is actually more of a solar-powered device that is able to produce hydrogen with a record-breaking degree of efficiency. The details of the technology, which marks a massive step towards simulating practical, artificial photosynthesis, have been laid out in a paper published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.
The process involves basically splitting up the water by passing an electric current through it, separating out the hydrogen particles so they can be used for fuel. While it sounds expensive, it is apparently cheap to do, and results in one of the cleanest forms of energy, which contains no carbon and produces no carbon dioxide as a by-product.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Making hydrogen fuel from water and visible light at 100 times higher efficiency

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have found a way to convert light to hydrogen fuel more efficiently — a big step closer to mimicking photosynthesis.
Current methods for creating hydrogen fuel are based on using electrodes made from titanium dioxide (TiO2), which acts as a catalyst to stimulate the light–>water–>hydrogen chemical reaction. This works great with ultraviolet (UV) light, but UV comprises only about 4% of the total solar energy, making the overall process highly inefficient.*
The ideal would be to use visible light, since it constitutes about 45 percent of solar energy. Now two Michigan Tech scientists — Yun Hang Hu, the Charles and Carroll McArthur professor of Materials Science and Engineer, and his PhD student, Bing Han — have developed a way to do exactly that.
They report in Journal of Physical Chemistry that by absorbing the entire visible light spectrum, they have increased the yield and energy efficiency of creating hydrogen fuel by up to two magnitudes (100 times) greater than previously reported.**

 

[ScienceRocks]

Rechargeable batteries with almost indefinite lifetimes coming, say MIT-Samsung engineers

MIT and Samsung researchers have developed a new approach to achieving long life and a 20 to 30 percent improvement in power density (the amount of power stored in a given space) in rechargeable batteries — using a solid electrolyte, rather than the liquid used in today’s most common rechargeables. The new materials could also greatly improve safety and last through “hundreds of thousands of cycles.”
The results are reported in the journal Nature Materials. Solid-state electrolytes could be “a real game-changer,” says co-author Gerbrand Ceder, MIT visiting professor of materials science and engineering, creating “almost a perfect battery, solving most of the remaining issues” in battery lifetime, safety, and cost.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Secretive fusion company makes reactor breakthrough

In a suburban industrial park south of Los Angeles, researchers have taken a significant step toward mastering nuclear fusion—a process that could provide abundant, cheap, and clean energy. A privately funded company called Tri Alpha Energy has built a machine that forms a ball of superheated gas—at about 10 million degrees Celsius—and holds it steady for 5 milliseconds without decaying away. That may seem a mere blink of an eye, but it is far longer than other efforts with the technique and shows for the first time that it is possible to hold the gas in a steady state—the researchers stopped only when their machine ran out of juice.
“They’ve succeeded finally in achieving a lifetime limited only by the power available to the system,” says particle physicist Burton Richter of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who sits on a board of advisers to Tri Alpha. If the company’s scientists can scale the technique up to longer times and higher temperatures, they will reach a stage at which atomic nuclei in the gas collide forcefully enough to fuse together, releasing energy.
Although other startup companies are also trying to achieve fusion using similar methods, the main efforts in this field are huge government-funded projects such as the $20 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), under construction in France by an international collaboration, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s $4 billion National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. But the burgeoning cost and complexity of such projects are causing many to doubt they will ever produce plants that can generate energy at an affordable cost.
Tri Alpha’s and similar efforts take a different approach, which promises simpler, cheaper machines that can be developed more quickly. Importantly, the Tri Alpha machine may be able to operate with a different fuel than most other fusion reactors. This fuel—a mix of hydrogen and boron—is harder to react, but Tri Alpha researchers say it avoids many of the problems likely to confront conventional fusion power plants. “They are where they are because people are able to believe they can get a [hydrogen-boron] reactor to work,” says plasma physicist David Hammer of Cornell University, also a Tri Alpha adviser.