Morgan McCorkle at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee reports that researchers there have developed a lithium-carbon fluoride battery with a thiophosphate electrolyte that generates 26 percent higher capacity than its theoretical maximum if all the components acted independently. This serendipitous outcome causes researcher Chengdu Liang to say, “This bi-functional electrolyte revolutionizes the concept of conventional batteries and opens a new avenue for the design of batteries with unprecedented energy density.” We’ve become accustomed to thinking that a battery’s “three main components – the positive cathode, negative anode, and ion-conducting electrolyte – can play only one role in the device.” ORNL’s battery has a specially-developed solid electrolyte that functions as an ion conductor, and also serves as a cathode supplement, boosting the cell’s capacity and extending the life of the battery. The big drawback at this time is the single-use nature of the battery – a primary unit that is not rechargeable (so far). The lithium …