Battery

There’s plenty of ambient radiation just floating around in the air, and now MIT researchers have laid out the blueprints of a system that could tap into this wasted energy source and use it to charge electronic devices.

Scientists tinkering with the design of lithium-ion batteries have come up with a new electrolyte they say can offer greater safety and an ability to operate at higher voltages, promising smartphones and electric vehicles with longer run times.

Battery researchers place a lot of focus on making the devices safer, and scientists are reporting a promising advance in this area with a new safety feature that acts as a “spillway” to stem the flow of electrons during a failure.

Scientists in Singapore are reporting a new type of semi-solid electrolyte that shores up the safety of a lithium-sulfur batteries, which hold huge, untapped potential when it comes to energy storage.

A new ultrasound device developed at US San Diego offers a solution to a key roadblock when it comes to lithium metal batteries, by using sound waves as a way of preventing dangerous growths that cause them to catch fire and fail.

Described as a “dream material,” lithium metal could give lithium-ion batteries a huge boost but safely integrating it has proven problematic. Scientists have now come up with a new design that avoids these issues and stops it going up in flames.

Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time, but there are ways you can make them last longer. A team at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has put together a list of best practices to preserve the life of lithium-ion batteries as long as possible.

Scientists at MIT are now reporting an exciting advance in the realm of solid-state lithium batteries, demonstrating a new type of architecture that overcomes some limitations of current designs and could lead to smartphones that last for days.

An international team of scientists believes it has overcome a key hurdle in lithium-sulfur battery technology thanks to a new type of bonding architecture, resulting in a highly stable device that could keep a smartphone running for days.

IBM has this week unveiled a new battery that relies on materials from seawater instead of heavy metals, with its early testing suggesting these components mightn't mean a compromise in performance, either.

This year offered a little something for everybody with an interest in battery development, bringing us devices that could charge electric vehicles in 10 minutes and others that suck CO2 out of the air. Here are the biggest breakthroughs of 2019.

The biggest battery in the world is set to soon grow even bigger. The Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, built by Tesla and managed by renewable energy company Neoen, will be expanded by an extra 50 percent early next year.