Interesting tech if it pans out
There are a lot of xyzzy+air battery chemistries.
How about sand+air -- ?? -- read here:
The Jerusalem Post:
New Israeli battery provides thousands of hours of power
A new kind of portable electrochemical battery that can produce thousands of hours of power - and soon replace the expensive regular or rechargeable batteries in hearing aids and sensors and eventually in cellphones, laptop computers and even electric cars - has been developed at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
The unique battery is based on silicon as a fuel that reverts to its original sand. The battery can also be left on the shelf for years and inserted into a device to provide immediate power.
It was developed over the last two-and-a-half years by Prof. Yair Ein-Eli of the Technion's materials engineering department, with collaboration by Prof. Digby Macdonald of Pennsylvania State University in the US and Prof. Rika Hagiwara of Kyoto University in Japan.
The work was conducted with a grant from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and an article on the battery was just published in the journal Electrochemistry Communications.
Ein-Eli told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that he has spent the last eight years investigating silicon in all aspects and the possibility of its serving as the major component of a highly efficient and environmentally friendly battery.
Electron mobility is not going to be great so don't look for something to power a vehicle but, for constant, low current electrical requirements, this will be awesome -- think remote monitoring stations, beacon lighthouses, low power PDAs, etc...
Fun time to be alive!
Posted by DaveH at October 16, 2009 9:02 PM