Researchers have accidentally discovered how batteries could be powered up 400 times longer than usual. By fiddling with nanowire and gel they made an amazing discovery - they made a battery that can last more than hundreds of thousands of charge cycles.
These researchers at the University of California, Irvine, created a battery that used gold nanowire in electrolyte gel, instead of lithium. The battery lost only 5 percent of its capacity in more than 200,000 charge cycles. However, the scientists were still unclear about the way it came about.
Originally, the scientists were looking for a substitute for lithium. This substance has the ability to conduct charge in its liquid state, but is sensitive to temperature and is combustible.
It has long been theorized that nanowires can be a dream battery material since they have a high surface area and can hold huge amounts of electric charge. These wires have very thin structures, but have high conductivity. Their large surface areas are perfect for the transmission and storage of electrons.
However, they are subject to corrosion when introduced in a lithium environment after thousands of charge cycles. As such, they are very fragile and are unable to last repetitive recharging and discharging and cycling. Cracks would develop in their surfaces causing them to fail and not last long enough.
While they were fiddling with several materials, the researchers discovered how to prevent the wires from corroding. They coated the gold nanowire they were experimenting on with manganese dioxide, and instead of using lithium, they used electrolyte gel.
The oxide and the gel fused around the wire and served as its protective covering, and Eureka! The experimental battery was able to complete hundreds of thousands of charge cycles in a span of three months without any detectable degradation.
However, using gold, even in tiny amounts, might make the process expensive. But the researchers are thinking of using nickel, when this concept reaches mass production.
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