Battery Material (developed by Oak Ridge Natl Lab) Prevents Fires, Stores Five Times the Energy

[Bill USA]

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a solid electrolyte to replace flammable ones used in lithium-ion batteries.

(...yes that is Oak Ridge National Laboratory part of the "problem" government. LOL)

(emphasis my own)
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510311/battery-material-prevents-fires-stores-five-times-the-energy/

An electrolyte developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could enable lithium-ion batteries that store five to 10 times more energy and are safer than the ones that recently caught fire on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

While the cause of the Boeing fire hasn’t yet been determined, Boeing could have reduced the risk of fire by choosing a safer electrode chemistry (see “Grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliners Use Batteries Prone to Overheating”). But it would have had fewer options for the electrolyte—the material that allows current to flow through a battery. Lithium-ion batteries, even the ones that use relatively safe electrodes, still use flammable liquid electrolytes.

Solid electrolytes would be much safer, but it’s been difficult to make them conductive enough for use in batteries. The ORNL researchers, in work published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Chemistry Society, have an easy method for making a nanostructured form of one solid electrolyte. The nanostructure improves the material’s conductivity 1,000 times, enough to make it useful in lithium-ion batteries. The researchers also showed that the new material is compatible with high-energy electrodes.

The solid electrolyte isn’t as conductive as liquid electrolytes, but the researchers say they can compensate for this by making the electrolyte very thin, among other measures. Even then, the batteries might not charge as quickly or provide the same boost of power possible with liquid electrolytes, but this would be okay in many applications, such as in electric cars, where the sheer number of battery cells makes it easy to deliver adequate bursts of power.
(more)

[NYC_SKP]

1. TOO MUCH BIG GOVERMINT1!!!11

(sent through yet another horrible government experiment: the Internet).

[drm604]

2. Improved battery technology is always a good thing.

Better batteries make intermittent sources, such as sun and wind, even more viable then they currently are, and could possibly eliminate the need for natural gas peaking generators.