Tag: lithium ion batteries

Packing “peanuts” used for batteries

Posted on March 23, 2015 by - News

alkaline batteryScientists at Purdue University said that they have converted packing peanuts into high performance carbon electrodes for lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries.

Packing peanuts are not peanuts but fill for boxes to protect goods being shipped. They’re made out of starch.

The researchers said the electrodes will outperform conventional graphite electrodes and is a n environmentally friendly approach.

The Purdue scientists have gone one step further because they have also made carbon nanoparticle anodes from polystyrene.

There’s a mystery here though, because a research assistant said “We were getting a lot of packing peanuts while setting up our new lab”. A professor decided to see if it was feasible to use the packing peanuts in a creative way.

Professor Vilas Pol said that while packing peanuts are used worldwide to ship goods, they’re very hard to break down, and only 10 percent are recycled. That means the majority of them end up in landfills.

Pol said that the method for using these packing peanuts as electrodes is cheap, environmentally friendly, and practical for large scale manufacturing.

 

United bans lithium ion batteries

Posted on March 3, 2015 by - News

United AirlinesUnited Airlines said it will stop carrying cargo of lithium ion (li-ion) batteries, following tests.

United is the second US airline to announce it would cease shipping quantities of li-ion – last month Delta made a similar decision.

The tests were carried out by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the BBC. The FAA filled a container with 5,000 batteries and a small heater. The heat ignited fires in other batteries with temperatures soaring to 600 degrees Celsius. Then an explosion blew open the container door.

A second test had a similar effect.

Li-ion batteries are known to be very volatile. Some years ago, Mike Magee’s INQUIRER carried dramatic pictures of a laptop exploding at a Japanese conference, pictures which hit news outlets worldwide.

Other airlines are expected to follow United and Delta’s move.

Scientists invent “bulletproof” batteries

Posted on January 27, 2015 by - News

Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Wikimedia CommonsLithium ion batteries are notorious for overheating because of short circuits – whether they’re in notebooks, in phones or in Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
But now scientists at the University of Michigan say they’ve come up with some tech that will help prevent disaster disrupting your dreams.
The team has made nano fibres from Kevlar which stops metal tendrils shorting out batteries. Kevlar is used in bulletproof vests.
And the material isn’t a long way away.   The scientists estimate that mass production will start in the fourth quarter of next year.
Nicholas Kotov, a professor of engineering at the University, said: “Unlike other ultra strong materials such as carbon nanotubes, Kevlar is an insulator.  This property is perfect for separators that need to prevent shorting between two electrodes.”

 

Battery will warn you before it explodes

Posted on October 14, 2014 by - News

Picture, Stanford UniversityScientists at Stanford University claim to have developed a so-called “smart” lithium ion battery that warns people before it overheats and bursts into an inferno.

The scientists claim that the early warning system uses a very thin copper sensor deposited on top of a conventional battery separator.

The use of such a device is clear, following a recent accident where a person’s smartphone burst into flames while she was using it.

Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science at Stanford, said: “Our goal is to create an early warning system that saves lives and property.  The system can detect problems that occur during the normal operation of a battery, but it does not apply to batteries damaged in a collion or other incident.”

Last year Boeing grounded its 787 Dreamliner fleet after batteries caught fire.  Then there was the famous incident in 2006 when a Dell notebook caught fire in Japan.

But while the odds of batteries catching fire are one in a million, said Cui, hundreds of millions of computers and smartphones are sold every year.

The smart separator will alert people when it’s time to change their batteries, just in case.