Researchers at the University of California at Irvine have reported a method to increase the strength of nanowires that could allow lithium-ion batteries to last for hundreds of thousands of charge cycles rather than just thousands:
Researchers have pursued using nanowires in batteries for years because the filaments, thousands of times thinner than a human hair, are highly conductive and have a large surface area for the storage and transfer of electrons. The problem they have encountered, however, is that nanowires are also extremely fragile and don't hold up well to repeated discharging and recharging, known as "cycling." For example, in a typical lithium-ion battery, they expand and grow brittle, which leads to cracking. UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai solved the brittleness conundrum by coating a gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell and encasing the assembly in an electrolyte made of a Plexiglas-like gel. The combination, they said, is reliable and resistant to failure.
[...] Thai, the study's leader, cycled the nanowire-enhanced electrode up to 200,000 times over three months without detecting any loss of capacity or power and without fracturing any nanowires. "All nanowire capacitors can be extended from 2000 to 8000 cycles to more than 100,000 cycles, simply by replacing a liquid electrolyte with a... gel electrolyte," the researchers wrote in their paper. The result: commercial batteries that could last a lifetime in computers, smartphones, appliances, cars and spacecraft.
Also at UCI News and Popular Science.
100k Cycles and Beyond: Extraordinary Cycle Stability for MnO2 Nanowires Imparted by a Gel Electrolyte (open, DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00029)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gravis on Monday April 25 2016, @01:54AM
i'm certain that most every company that's pushing out zillions of lithium batteries isn't thrilled about this advancement because if it works as advertised, it could mean a drastic reduction in business over time. though, i'm sure Mr. Musk is thrilled. ;)
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Monday April 25 2016, @02:17AM
I'm hoping the market will sort this out one. Consumers and buyers will demand "high endurance" batteries and eventually someone will step forward to meet that demand.
Hopefully they don't cost an arm and a leg.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by legont on Monday April 25 2016, @02:59AM
Let's start with something simple and "demand" phone SD slot for 50c extra price. Or even simpler - a PC without Windows that costs less, not more.
Come on guys - it's easier to believe in flat earth than in the Market.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday April 25 2016, @03:18AM
I'm hoping the market will sort this out one.
Fat chance: This is what happened [wikipedia.org] in the light bulb world, and it basically never stopped until LED lights came along 10 years ago - and I wouldn't be surprised to find out planned obsolescence is built into those as well.
The free market theory is a great idea that never really works to the consumer's advantage in the end...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 25 2016, @03:32AM
As the wikipedia article says, even after the cartel was long gone, light bulbs were still only good for about 1000 hours.
You could buy heavy-duty bulbs with longer lifespans. But that was accomplished by increasing filament thickness and decreasing efficiency - more heat, less lumens for equivalent electrical consumption.
So it kind of turned out that 1000 bulbs were more than just the result of collusion, they were roughly the optimal intersection of cost, efficiency and longevity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 25 2016, @05:55AM
Perhaps, the problem with electric cars is one part longevity. The 'after 7-10 years you need to drop 10-20k on a new pack' thing is a pain.
Even in fixed installed industrial environments this could be a big thing.
In the consumer market it could be different and much more like you said.
There are good number of manufactures of these sorts of batteries. They are not going to ignore it.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday April 25 2016, @09:12AM
> The 'after 7-10 years you need to drop 10-20k on a new pack' thing is a pain.
Is it? I thought it was a myth. Plenty of articles to support this if you google it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gravis on Monday April 25 2016, @03:51AM
the "free market" likely wouldn't but we won't have the chance to see because Elon Musk is building a giant battery factory and he's not beholden to the greed that the "free market" is based on. as a result, he will make better batteries which will force the hand of other battery makers and eventually they will all be everywhere.
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday April 25 2016, @04:07AM
True if he plans to make money on cars, which is a very big if. Perhaps, his whole idea was to make money on batteries, which looks more profitable to me. If so, this will be bought and buried.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday April 25 2016, @04:17AM
Musk doesn't necessarily have to compromise on battery quality, since it can be vertically integrated into the electric cars, solar panels and installations (yes, he has plans to manufacture the panels), and probably in his Dragon spacecraft.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday April 25 2016, @05:18AM
I did not say he had to, let alone necessarily. I just wanted to point out it is possible. Being a realist, he probably had no illusions he can outsmart car industry, while he could revolutionize a battery one. My suspicion is it was the plan to begin with. If by some miracle he gets car industry revolution, well, it's a bonus and possibly an adjustment of battery plans.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Gravis on Monday April 25 2016, @09:11AM
you seem to be completely ignorant of Mr Musk's motivation for making EVs because money was never the point.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday April 25 2016, @05:48PM
Hahaha!
You mean like how consumers demanded removable batteries in their phones, so they didn't have to pay $$$ for technician replacement or a new phone if their battery went bad or wore out?
Or how consumers demanded a reliable OS for their PC instead of one with built-in spyware?
Or how consumers demanded commercial-free cable TV, like they used to have when cable was brand-new and which they were promised?
Or how consumers demanded safe vehicles without needing to have the government mandate safety features and crash performance?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 25 2016, @03:26AM
Well, there are lots of other characteristics that can be improved for the foreseeable future.
Like:
o mass-to-power ratio
o volume-to-power ratio
o charging rate
o discharge rate
o explosion-proofing
I think an infinitely reusable battery would be most appealing for fixed installations of storage for renewable energy where space and weight are not significant concerns. But anything portable or mobile is going to want some or all of the above improved indefinitely.
(Score: 1) by WalksOnDirt on Monday April 25 2016, @06:33AM
Unless they can find a substitute for gold I don't see this as ever becoming cheap. Even if they do, nanowires themselves aren't cheap.
So, this might work out eventually, but I'm not holding my breath. I doubt Elon is, either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 25 2016, @08:17AM
Another approach:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/10/14/183221 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday April 25 2016, @12:36PM
Do you have any idea how much gold is in your computer? Probably a lot more than this battery uses since its gold is nanowires. That said, the developers say it's highly unlikely that these can be mass produced cheaply enough.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 1) by WalksOnDirt on Monday April 25 2016, @01:02PM
Per pound, my computer is much more expensive than my car.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 26 2016, @01:16PM
And your phone is more expensive than your computer. My TEETH are more expensive than my car. Paid 6000 for the car, 7000 for the dentures.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Tuesday April 26 2016, @02:57PM
Why do you need batteries for your teeth?
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday April 27 2016, @03:57PM
We were talking about the price of things by weight, not their battery capacity. Did the guy I responded to get modded to -1 or something?
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday April 25 2016, @10:39PM
When you leave Li-Ion batteries out in the sunlight, they can get hot, which degrades their mAh capacity (?). Would this mean that a battery could last through many charging cycles, but: