Husband and wife team, Cenzig S. Ozkam and Mihri Ozkam and their graduate student, Zach Favors, have achieved another innovative approach to creating better batteries. The blog has cited the Ozkan’s earlier effort that involving a new architecture for high-performance batteries capable of charging and discharging at much higher rates, and Favors’ discovery that beach sand in nano-sized form has some potential to increase battery performance considerably. It’s silicon, after all. Zach Favors will share his findings in his presentation, “Beach Sand for Long Cycle Life Li-Ion Batteries,” at the ninth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium. The three, working in the University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering “have developed a novel paper-like material for lithium-ion batteries,” with “the potential to boost by several times the specific energy, or amount of energy that can be delivered per unit weight of the battery.” etched SiNF paper, and (d) C-coated SiNF paper as used in the Li-ion half-cell configuration. The material can be spun …
Chew on This: How a Snail Might Teach Us How to Make Better Batteries
Radula: A flexible tonguelike organ in certain mollusks, having rows of horny teeth on the surface. [Latin r dula, scraper, from r dere, to scrape] freedictionary.com The Gumboot Chiton is not pretty, and is downright ugly when turned over. The rows of molars on its underside are wonderfully suited though, to scraping algae off rocks, and the hardness of its dentures is something materials scientists study closely. The Chiton, described as a “wandering meatloaf” because of its hump of leathery brown upper skin, may not have an alluring personality, but is teeth are magnetic, leading to University of California, Riverside assistant professor David Kisailus’ attraction to them. Kisailus, specializing in chemical and environmental engineering, and his fellow researchers may have found lessons in nature, and in the mouth of this marine snail, “to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries,” according to the University. Up to a foot long, “Chitons have evolved to …
The Layered Look in Batteries
Gurpreet Singh, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering, and his research team at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, are working out less expensive, more efficient ways to create nanomaterials and lithium-ion batteries. “We are exploring new methods for quick and cost-effective synthesis of two-dimensional materials for rechargeable battery applications,” Singh said. “We are interested in this research because understanding lithium interaction with single-, double- and multiple-layer-thick materials will eventually allow us to design battery electrodes for practical applications. This includes batteries that show improved capacity, efficiency and longer life.” Researchers grew graphene films on copper and nickel foils in less than 30 minutes by quickly heating them in a furnace in the presence of argon, hydrogen and methane gases – significantly at atmospheric pressure. Not needing to use a vacuum to create these films saves energy, time and cost, according to Singh. Researchers used the films to create the negative electrode of a lithium-ion cell and test the …