Degraded Electrodes Observed In Aging Batteries 108
schliz writes "Scientists have identified nanoscale changes in aging lithium-ion batteries that could be responsible for their degradation over time. By dissecting and examining dead batteries, they found that some lithium was irreversibly lost from the positive to negative electrode of dead batteries, and no longer participated in charging and discharging. They discovered that finely-structured nanomaterials on dead batteries' electrodes had coarsened in size, and theorise that the coarsening of the cathode may be responsible for the loss of lithium."
Re:Planned obsolescence (Score:3, Interesting)
We've come a long way since replacement batteries that cost as much as the laptop/phone did in the first place.
Order some generic cells and get soldering.
Re:WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Things degrade and break over time, especially if you use them."
How this is news ? WTF?
The article carefully avoided mentioning that the scale of the damage was not known before. In my limited chemistry knowledge I always assumed the problem was the electrodes either went into solution or gained a molecule thick film of icky-stuff that prevented the reactions.
Its bad news... If you're trying to prevent dissolving, well, thats a very well known problem and you can play games with buffer solutions and making the electrodes more or less insoluable, and all kinds of other ideas. Old tech "no problemo". Or if the problem was thin film growth, basically electroplating gone wild, thats also old tech "no problemo" with chleating agents and electropositive series and decades/centuries of metallurgical corrosion research. By old tech, no problemo, I mean its a well developed area of study, not "the great unknown", or not that the solution inevitably exists or is cheap, just that the research is likely to proceed quickly and efficiently. But what is a non-mechanical engineering solution to surface roughness getting screwed up chemically? Hmm. At this time of morning, I have no idea what the next step could be. Lots of blue sky research money getting spent, I'd guess.