Tobacco Virus Could Boost Li Batteries 161
siliconbits alerts us to the possible use of one of the world's most destructive naturally occurring scourges, the tobacco mosaic virus, to boost the capacity of lithium ion batteries by 10 times. It seems the virus can be made to attach itself to the electrodes in a lithium cell perpendicularly, increasing the surface area of the electrode and greatly improving the battery's capacity to store energy. PhysOrg has some more detail on virus-enhanced batteries. Four years ago we discussed the use of the tobacco mosaic virus to enable fast-switching transistors.
Re:Scourge? (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, it's the smoking that gives you all those nasty ailments. Why not try a minty e-cigarette instead loaded with satiating tobacco?
Also, you can email your friends with your cigarette if you sign up for the $40/month e-cigarette data plan!
The scourge of mankind (Score:3, Interesting)
When you say "one of the world's most destructive naturally occurring scourges," are you referring to tobacco or the virus?
Signed,
to lazy to log in.
Re:Scourge? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Scourge? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to hate eggplants too bacause I always was served goopy overbaked eggplant.
But then I discovered that they are best prepared sliced, battered and fried. Delicious.
Re:Scourge? (Score:4, Interesting)
Balderdash! The key to preparing eggplant is the following two steps:
1) Slice the eggplant into ~ 1.5 cm - 2 cm slices. Salt one side of each slice. Reassemble eggplant, wrapping with cling wrap to hold it together. Let it rest for ~30 minutes until all the bitter juices leech out, and then wipe each slice dry.
2) Roast or grill eggplant for a couple minutes, until it looks like it has started cooking.
Then, do whatever you want with it.
Also, it helps to know that the eggplant has "male" and "female" fruit, and that the female fruit has a more bitter flavor.
10-fold increase? (Score:4, Interesting)
Gasoline has an energy density of about 34 MJ/L, while current Li-ion batteries have an energy density of around 0.7 MJ/L. If this comes to fruition, we'll have batteries with about 1/5th of the energy density of gasoline. That's quite amazing, in my opinion.
What if that battery is pierced, though? I know that the Tesla rig uses a slew of small cells. Do other electric cars like the Volt or the Leaf do the same thing? It seems to me that a number of small cells might present less of a problem, though that would drive the energy density of a battery pack down.
Re:10-fold increase? (Score:4, Interesting)