The federal government is creating yet another round of incentives to “spark” development of “significantly smaller, lighter and less expensive batteries.” A consortium of researchers led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will receive up to $10 million a year over five years to perk up battery performance, with the goal of creating a 500 Watt-hour per kilogram battery pack, about three times that of currently available commercial offerings. The new batteries should be “reliable, safe and less expensive,” according to consortium director and PNNL materials scientist Jun Liu. Research will come from partners nation-wide, including: Brookhaven National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Binghamton University (State University of New York) Stanford University University of California, San Diego University of Texas at Austin University of Washington IBM (advisory board member) Even though the goals and the budget seem similar to those explained by Energy Secretary Steven Chu two years ago, his directive included research on alternative materials, such …
Iodized Salt – Iodine Battery
The Blog has reported on aqueous batteries, such as those developed by PolyPlus, a firm that has worked with the U. S. Navy to develop long-duration batteries compatible with sea water. Sea water carries about 60 parts per billion of iodine by mass, from which we get iodized salt. Battery performance going swimmingly, the Riken lithium-iodine battery is said to excel in most areas Which may have been the starting point for Riken, “Japan’s largest comprehensive research institution renowned for high-quality research in a diverse range of scientific disciplines.” Hye Ryung Byon and her team from the Byon Initiative Research Unit(IRU), have developed a lithium-iodine (Li-I2) battery system with a significantly higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries. The Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization has set goals for batteries similar to those anticipated by IBM with its Battery 500 program. They want 500-kilometer (311 mile) range for electric cars that could compete with internal-combustion powered vehicles. This would …