Professor Yair Ein-Eli at the Technion - Israel Institute of Science has conducted research into a battery that lasts for thousands of hours and is based on silicon that reverts back to sand when it's spent. The research was conducted at the Technion - Israel Institute of Science and published in the journal Electrochemistry Communications. Ein-Eli's technology was created in collaboration with Dr. David Starosvetsky and graduate student Gil Cohen from the Technion, Prof. Digby Macdonald from Pennsylvania State University and Prof. Rika Hagiwara from Kyoto University in Japan.
The battery is small, ranging in size from less than a third of an inch to an inch or so and based on silicon. The battery is lightweight, has an unlimited shelf life and a high tolerance for both humid and very dry environments. The battery works by enabling silicon, which is an abundant material, to revert back to its original form as sand. Regular zinc batteries are made from two electrodes, a cathode and an anode, which are separated by ions in liquid. But in Ein-Eli's new solution, only one electrode is needed, which means there's more power and the batteries cost less to produce. In his battery, the oxygen inside passes through a membrane to oxidize silicon. This stable, inert, light and non-toxic material is high in energy and reverts to sand after the fuel is depleted. In the paper the Professor explained that at 600 hours the battery had used only 10% of its energy, indicating the possibility of 6000 hours of power.
For now, the battery is not rechargeable, but the fact that it can last thousands of hours makes it attractive to companies in the small electronics market. Ein-Eli is currently working on boosting the battery's energy output even further. He believes that in three or four years it will be rechargeable. The battery can sit on a shelf for years before it's activated and its size and strength would make it ideal for use in hearing aids. Perhaps in the future the technology could replace current laptop battery technology allowing them to run for hundreds of hours on a single charge.
Credit: Israel21c
Top image of Professor Yair Ein-Eli source Israel21c
For more read : Energy Harvesting and Storage for Electronic Devices 2009-2019
