Longer-Lasting Batteries for Notebook Computers
Filed under: News
Conventional lithium-ion batteries in laptops quickly lose their ability to store energy and can catch fire if they’re overcharged or damaged. Now researchers at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL, have developed composite battery materials that can make such batteries both safer and longer lived, while increasing their capacity to store energy by 30%.
Last month, the researchers took a significant step toward commercializing the technology by licensing it to a major materials supply company, Toda Kogyo, based in Japan. The company has the capacity to make the materials for about 30 million laptop batteries a year, says Gary Henriksen, who manages electrochemical storage research at Argonne.
The new materials are one example of a new generation of li-ion electrode chemistries that address the shortcomings of conventional li-ion batteries. Each has its own trade-offs. For example, another material called lithium iron phosphate has better safety and durability than Argonne’s materials, but it stores somewhat less energy than conventional li-ion batteries. Argonne’s materials improve on the safety and reliability of today’s notebook batteries, while also storing more energy…
Full news: TechnologyReview.com
Posted on May 1st, 2008 by admin
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