http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Lithium-ion batteries are high performance energy storage devices used in many commercial electronic appliances. Certainly, they can store a large amount of energy in a relatively small volume. They have also previously been widely believed to exhibit no memory effect. That's how experts call a deviation in the working voltage of the battery, caused by incomplete charging or discharging, that can lead to only part of the stored energy being available and an inability to determine the charge level of the battery reliably. Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, together with colleagues from the Toyota Research Laboratories in Japan have now however discovered that a widely-used type of lithium-ion battery has a memory effect. This discovery is of particularly high relevance for advances towards using lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicle market. The work was published today in the scientific journal Nature Materials. http://phys.org/news285228936.html Chemistry Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:15:48 EST news285228936 More and more electricity is being generated from intermittent sources of power, such as solar and wind energy. Powerful electric energy storage devices are necessary to level out corresponding irregularities in the power supply. Fraunhofer scientists have recently made an important breakthrough with their development of a redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW, with a cell size of 0.5 square meters. This is eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems. They will be presenting the new battery for the first time at the Hannover Messe trade show (from April 8–12). http://phys.org/news282898653.html Technology Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:57:40 EST news282898653 (Phys.org) —Most batteries, supercapacitors, and other energy storage devices are based on a sandwich structure, where two electrodes face each other and the charge flows between them. However, when these structures are folded or bent, the electrodes can easily fracture or the device can short-circuit if the electrodes come in direct contact. In a new study, researchers have come up with a new design for energy storage devices that is both flexible and semitransparent, in which the electrodes are fabricated on the same two-dimensional plane in a novel comb-teeth structure. http://phys.org/news282309782.html Nanotechnology Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:40:02 EST news282309782 (Phys.org)—A new nanomaterial, which finds its inspiration in nature, will provide the potential for more efficient and greener vehicles, rechargeable batteries and solar cells. http://phys.org/news275300432.html Nanotechnology Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:20:42 EST news275300432 (Phys.org)—Electronic devices become smaller, lighter, faster and more powerful with each passing year. Currently, however, electronics such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc., are rigid. But what if they could be made bendable or stretchy? http://phys.org/news274524651.html Nanotechnology Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:50:58 EST news274524651 (Phys.org)—The cherished portability of many popular electronics, from smart phones to laptops, mostly comes courtesy of lithium-ion batteries. Unfortunately, these dense and lightweight energy storage devices begin to degrade over time, steadily losing total capacity even when sitting idle on the shelf. Scaling up this promising technology to better power electric vehicles or facilitate grid-scale storage demands battery lifetimes longer than a decade—and fundamental advances in lithium-ion engineering. http://phys.org/news273224880.html Chemistry Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:48:38 EST news273224880 (Phys.org)—While most of today's electric vehicles rely on batteries to store energy, supercapacitors have enjoyed significant improvements that have made them serious competitors to batteries. Batteries traditionally have the upper hand in terms of capacity, since supercapacitors' low capacities mean very short driving ranges for electric vehicles. Supercapacitors' biggest advantage lies in their much higher power density compared to batteries, enabling a quicker charge time and the ability to quickly discharge for fast acceleration. http://phys.org/news269254628.html Nanotechnology Fri, 12 Oct 2012 10:10:01 EST news269254628 (Phys.org)—Researchers from North Carolina State University 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 flower holds promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells. http://phys.org/news269177058.html Nanotechnology Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:24:31 EST news269177058 (Phys.org)—A research group in China has discovered that the ink in an ordinary pen makes for a good coating when building a supercapacitor. The team, from Peking University (Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences) describe in their paper published in Advanced Materials, how they used pen ink to coat carbon fibers as part of a process in creating a supercapacitor that was not only bendable but able to cover a large surface area. http://phys.org/news265956814.html Chemistry Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:10:01 EST news265956814 Siemens has developed an energy-storage system that can act as a buffer in electrical power grids. The aim is to provide a buffer against short-term fluctuations in output from renewable energy sources. Such fluctuations can last for seconds or several minutes long. The modular designed Siestorage battery is based on lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology and fits into a normal shipping container. In its big layout it stores 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity. That's about the average daily power consumption of 50 households. The Italian power company Enel recently switched on the first Siestorage installation, which has a capacity of one megawatt. Enel is using the installation, which is connected to its primary distribution network, to study how voltage can be stabilized. http://phys.org/news255940871.html Technology Fri, 11 May 2012 07:41:21 EST news255940871 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, differ from regular capacitors that you would find in your TV or computer in that they store substantially higher amounts of charges. They have garnered attention as energy storage devices as they charge and discharge faster than batteries, yet they are still limited by low energy densities, only a fraction of the energy density of batteries. An EC that combines the power performance of capacitors with the high energy density of batteries would represent a significant advance in energy storage technology. This requires new electrodes that not only maintain high conductivity but also provide higher and more accessible surface area than conventional ECs that use activated carbon electrodes. http://phys.org/news251045814.html Nanotechnology Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:57:44 EST news251045814 Solving the mystery of prematurely dead cell phone and laptop batteries may prove to be a vital step toward creating a sustainable energy grid according to Drexel researcher Dr. Yury Gogotsi. In a piece published in the November 18 edition of Science, Gogotsi, who is the head of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, calls for a new, standardized gauge of performance measurement for energy storage devices that are as small as those used in cell phones to as large as those used in the national energy grid. http://phys.org/news241843180.html Technology Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:39:59 EST news241843180 (PhysOrg.com) -- Crystals and ceramics pale when compared to a material researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that has 10 times their piezoelectric effect, making it suitable for perhaps hundreds of everyday uses. http://phys.org/news235975871.html Chemistry Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:52:19 EST news235975871 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have helped to uncover the nanoscale structure of a novel form of carbon, contributing to an explanation of why this new material acts like a super-absorbent sponge when it comes to soaking up electric charge. The material, which was recently created at The University of Texas - Austin, can be incorporated into "supercapacitor" energy-storage devices with remarkably high storage capacity while retaining other attractive attributes such as superfast energy release, quick recharge time, and a lifetime of at least 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. http://phys.org/news224426583.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:48 EST news224426583 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Berkeley Lab scientist was a key member of a team that developed a unique new technique for integrating high performance micro-sized supercapacitors into a variety of portable electronic devices through common microfabrication techniques. Featuring high power densities and rapid-fire cycle times, these new supercapacitors have the potential to substantially boost the performance and longevity of portable electric energy storage devices. http://phys.org/news191245172.html Technology Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:39:19 EST news191245172