Batteries

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Devices that support various functions of our bodies are being used increasingly. Today, they include cardiac pacemakers or hearing aids. Tomorrow, they may be contact lenses with automatically changing focal length or computer-controlled displays generating images directly in the eye. But, none of these devices will work if not coupled to an efficient and long-lasting power supply source. Researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw say that the best solution seems to be miniaturized biofuel cells that consume substances naturally occurring in the human body or in its immediate surroundings.
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Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, are developing edible electronic devices that can be implanted in the body, and say that the device could be programmed and deployed in the gastrointestinal tract or the small intestine and once the battery packaging is in place, they can activate the battery.

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The demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has led to the miniaturization of a variety of technologies, but energy-storage units, such as batteries and capacitors, have lagged behind. Now, researchers at UCLA say that they have developed an innovative technique using a DVD burner to fabricate micro-scale graphene-based supercapacitors, which can charge and discharge a hundred to a thousand times faster than standard batteries. These micro-supercapacitors, made from a one-atom–thick layer of graphitic carbon, can be easily manufactured and readily integrated into small devices such as next-generation pacemakers, they say.

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Researchers at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and the University of Illinois have demonstrated a stretchable lithium-ion battery can power their innovative stretchable electronics. The stretchable electronic devices now could be used anywhere, including inside the human body, they say, powering implantable electronics that could monitor anything from brain waves to heart activity. They say that they have demonstrated a battery that powers a commercial light-emitting diode even when stretched, folded, twisted, and mounted on a human elbow. The battery can work for eight to nine hours before needing recharging, which can be done wirelessly.

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A hybrid power cell uses a new technique for electrical charge conversion and storage.

Scientists at Georgia Tech say that they have developed a new self-charging power cell technology that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy. Then, the power is stored until it is needed to generate electricity. This hybrid generator- storage cell utilizes mechanical energy more efficiently than systems using separate generators and batteries, they say.
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Contour Energy Systems, Inc., Azusa, CA, introduces its new Lithium/Carbon Fluoride (Li/CFx) primary batteries to be used in medical devices. A proprietary Fluoronetic fabrication technique combines multi-layered carbon nano-materials with new manufacturing processes to achieve long shelf life and wide temperature operation. Contour’s Li/CFx cells are especially well-suited for medical applications due to a relatively flat discharge profile, low internal resistance, and light weight.
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Recent advances in lithium technology have increased the variety of commercially available batteries.

The element lithium possesses fundamental properties that make it ideal for use as the anode in both primary and rechargeable batteries. Vendors have paired the popular lithium anode with a variety of cathode and electrolyte materials, resulting in the wide choice of different chemistries available today. This article discusses the types of primary lithium batteries commonly used for medical applications and introduces a new type based on recent innovations in materials and manufacturing processes. Information about the basic properties, advantages, and disadvantages are provided for each battery type.
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North Carolina State University researchers have created flower-like structures out of germanium sulfide (GeS) – a semiconductor material – that have extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area. The GeS flowers hold promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells.
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SAKOR Technologies, Inc. (Okemos, MI) designed and installed a complete turnkey Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Test System for UQM Technologies, Inc. (Longmont, CO), a manufacturer of high-efficiency electric propulsion systems. UQM will use the system to test inverters and traction motors for use in hybrid and electric vehicles for the automotive, commercial truck, bus, and military markets.
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A University of Southern California research team has developed a cheap, rechargeable battery that could be used to store energy at solar power plants for a rainy day. The air-breathing battery uses the chemical energy generated by the oxidation of iron plates that are exposed to the oxygen in the air — a process similar to rusting.
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Electrical energy storage is the obstacle preventing more widespread use of renewable energy sources. Due to the unpredictable nature of wind and solar energy, the ability to store this energy when it is produced is essential for turning these resources into reliable sources of energy. The current U.S. energy grid system is used predominantly for distributing energy and allows little flexibility for storage of excess or a rapid dispersal on short notice. Drexel University researchers believe they have a solution.
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Fuel cells, which use chemicals to create electricity, hold promise in a variety of areas but the high price of platinum catalysts used inside the cells has provided a roadblock. One promising low-cost alternative to platinum is the carbon nanotube – an excellent conductor of electricity. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could eventually replace some of the platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to Stanford University scientists.
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Researchers at Rice University have created a coaxial cable that is about a thousand times smaller than a human hair and has higher capacitance than previously reported microcapacitors. The nanocable was produced with techniques pioneered in the burgeoning graphene research field and could be used to build next-generation energy-storage systems.
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Stanford University engineers have found a novel method for "decorating" nanowires with chains of tiny particles to increase their electrical and catalytic performance. The technique is simpler and faster than earlier methods and could lead to better lithium-ion batteries, more efficient thin-film solar cells, and improved catalysts that yield new synthetic fuels.
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Harnessing solar energy can be as simple as tuning the optical and electronic properties of metal oxides at the atomic level by making an artificial crystal or super-lattice ‘sandwich.’ "Metal oxides can be tailored to meet all sorts of needs, which is good news for technological applications, specifically in energy generation and flat screen displays,” said Louis Piper, assistant professor of physics at Binghamton University.
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Multi-hop wireless networks can provide data access for large and unconventional spaces, but they face significant limits on the amount of data they can transmit. North Carolina State University researchers have developed a more efficient data transmission approach that can boost the amount of data the networks can transmit by 20 to 80 percent.
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The U.S Department of Energy has recently announced up to $4 million available this year to accelerate the development and deployment of wireless charging systems for light-duty electric vehicles (EVs).

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Electrical energy generated by various methods can be difficult to store efficiently. Chemical batteries, hydraulic pumping, and water splitting suffer from low energy-density storage or incompatibility with current transportation infrastructure. UCLA researchers have demonstrated a method for storing electrical energy as chemical energy in higher alcohols, which can be used as liquid transportation fuels.
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Power Felt is a new thermoelectric device developed by researchers at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University. By touching a small piece, body heat is converted into an electrical current.
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Sandia National Laboratory researchers have developed a family of liquid salt electrolytes - known as MetILs - that could lead to better batteries and well as devices that can help incorporate large-scale intermittent renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, into the nation’s electric grid.
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An Office of Naval Research (ONR)-funded solar generator has recently entered full production, with several systems already in the field. The Ground Renewable Expeditionary ENergy System (GREENS) is a portable, 300-watt, hybrid battery generator that uses the sun to produce electric currents.
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When one circuit within an integrated chip cracks or fails, the whole chip – or even the whole device – is a loss. University of Illinois engineers have now developed a self-healing system that restores electrical conductivity to a cracked circuit in less time than it takes to blink.
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Unexpected voltage increases of up to 25 percent in two barely separated nanowires have been observed at Sandia National Laboratories. Designers of next-generation devices using nanowires to deliver electric currents — including batteries and certain solar arrays — may need to make allowances for such surprise boosts.
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The bq25504 from Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) is an integrated energy harvesting nanopower management solution for ultra low power applications. The boost converter is designed to efficiently acquire and manage the microwatts to miliwatts of power generated from a variety of DC sources like photovoltaic or thermal electric generators.
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DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) will hold its third annual Energy Innovation Summit at the Gaylord Convention Center near Washington, D.C. The Summit will unite key players from all sectors of the nation’s energy innovation community to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of clean energy technologies.
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