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from the it-keeps-going-and-going-and-going-and-going-and-going.... dept.
Zhongwei Chen, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo, and a team of graduate students have created a low-cost battery using silicon that boosts the performance and life of lithium-ion batteries. Their findings are published in the latest issue of Nature Communications .
Waterloo's silicon battery technology promises a 40 to 60 per cent increase in energy density, which is important for consumers with smartphones, smart homes and smart wearables.
The environmentally safe technology could also make dramatic improvements for hybrid and electric vehicles. The findings could mean an electric car may be driven up to 500 kilometres between charges and the smaller, lighter batteries may significantly reduce the overall weight of vehicles.
Current lithium-ion batteries normally use graphite anodes. The Waterloo engineers found that silicon anode materials have a much higher capacity for lithium and are capable of producing batteries with almost 10 times more energy.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday October 29 2015, @10:10PM
The city I live in is grappling with the problem of sprawl among other things.
Auckland is about the size of London, but with 1.4 million people v about 9 million.
We tend to live in single family dwellings, with our own land, whereas London has semi-detached houses and apartments. This tends to make London much more compact, and with less distance to walk for various services. I was also struck by how small houses are in London, much smaller than mine, and I suspect much smaller than the average American home.
There are no doubt both good and bad with more compact cities, but it was really nice to be able to walk to a choice of pubs in the evening and walk home with no worries about drink driving. Public transport is also easy and cheap, which no doubt many Americans will sneer at (as do many New Zealanders), but when everyone uses the Tube, and trains run regularly it just becomes the way to get around.
Just a few observations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 29 2015, @10:57PM
But there's still a long way down the road to the chemist's.