World's First Battery Fueled By Air 205
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports on the revolutionary 'STAIR' (St Andrews Air) battery could now pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, laptops and mobile phones. The cells are charged in a traditional way but as power is used an open mesh section of battery draws in oxygen from the surrounding air that reacts with a porous carbon component inside the battery, which creates more energy and helps to continually 'charge' the cell as it is being discharged. The battery has a greater storage capacity than other similar-sized cells and can emit power up to 10 times longer. 'The key is to use oxygen in the air as a re-agent, rather than carry the necessary chemicals around inside the battery,' says Professor Peter Bruce of the Chemistry Department at the University of St Andrews. 'Our target is to get a five to ten fold increase in storage capacity, which is beyond the horizon of current lithium batteries.'"
Re:Powered by Air? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice headline Taco.
This is "fueled by air" in the same way an internal combustion engine is.
This is a Lithium battery. Why isn't Lithium in TFS?
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
This might be an exception (hopefully), but until you can get one off NewEgg people stay cool and cautious.
Re:Any side-effects or drawbacks? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not necessarily -- the carbon could act as a catalyst or component that is cycled throughout the charge-discharge process.
Re:Any side-effects or drawbacks? (Score:1, Insightful)
All things that reacts dies off eventually (see lead battery acid as an example), it's more a question of when. If the reactions are small yet provide a large amount of energy, replacement isn't an issue. If the reactions uses up alot of the carbon in a short time frame, it will have to be very well damn cheap(to become disposables) to make it in the market.
The battery will most likely be at least 90% of the reactants or otherwise they just put the nessesary stuff within the operating device itself so a refill will be almost no different then replacing the battery itself.
Well, if you truely want a green battery, this isn't it as you won't be recharging the battery off of some other green power but it's definitely a nice improvement in battery technology assuming there isn't big issues that will prevent it from entering the market (like being too expensive).
Re:Is it rechargable? (Score:3, Insightful)
These elements, according to the coverage at The Register, are lithium-oxygen. The porous carbon storage matrix is just that, and plays more a mechanical role than a chemical one. I do so wish /. stories would link to articles that report science with at least the simplest facts right.
Re:Question (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Question (Score:3, Insightful)
What do you expect, with all the new users that came over from 4chan now getting into to "eligible for moderation" zone?
Just look at the amount of 4chan memes that pop up around here.
Re:Powered by Air? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is much more than an ordinary lithium battery, and the headline is quite appropriate. Internal combustion engines are in a very real sense "fueled by air", as are our own bodies, and using the same principle to extend the life of batteries without increasing weight or volume is a very good idea. It's not totally unprecedented, either, as zinc-air batteries do this; the innovation is making them rechargeable.
Re:Any side-effects or drawbacks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Those are the potential problems I can see:
1. The batteries will degrade over time, because the porous carbon used as the catalyst will slowly oxidize away.
2. Moisture sensitivity might be a problem. Graphite-lithium intercalate used in the negative electrode is, as far as I know, not resistant to water. Li2O2 also doesn't look stable (Na2O2, a close analogue, decomposes when subjected to moisture)
3. Total life might be additionally shortened in cities with smog. Smog contains highly oxidative species like nitrogen oxides and free radicals, which would accelerate the degradation of the carbon catalyst.
4. Obviously it won't be suitable for waterproof equipment.
5. Maximum power output might decrease with altitude (lower oxygen partial pressure).
The main problem is that you can't control the quality of air around the device, so I predict that preventing the battery from degrading when the air is not 100% clean and moisture free is going to be a challenge.
Re:Question (Score:5, Insightful)
According to the article the lithium is oxidized to Li2O2, so 1 mole of lithium takes half a mole of molecular oxygen during discharge. If the battery contains 100g of lithium (a large laptop battery might contain this amount), a total discharge would need
100 g / 6.941 g/mol * 0.5 * 22.4 dm3/mol * (100%/20%) = 806.8 l
of air, or less that one cubic metre. The second figure is the atomic mass of lithium, the third is the ratio of the stoichiometric coefficients of oxygen and lithium in thhe reaction, the fourth is the molar volume of ideal gas, and the last is the factor from oxygen concentration.
So unless you are in a coffin this is not a risk.
Re:Question (Score:3, Insightful)
Please show me what part of that page makes you believe plants consume oxygen.
Here you go (Score:1, Insightful)