Electric vehicles are at present making use of Lithium ion batteries, but now a new type of battery called nanowire battery is developed. It consists of stainless steel anode covered in silicon nanowires. Silicon stores large amount of graphite and allows far greater energy density on the anode, thus reducing the mass of the battery.
This nanowire batteries stores 10 times more electricity than the traditional lithium ion batteries. This can be very useful for the auto manufacturers who produce electric cars. These could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels. Electrical storage capacity of these batteries depends on how much lithium can be held in the battery's anode and this anode is typically made up of carbon. But silicon has a much higher capacity than carbon.
Working of these batteries is explained by silicon placed in the battery swells as it absorbs the positively charged lithium ions and it shrinks while using the battery because lithium is drawn out of the silicon. This expansion and shrinkage cycle causes the silicon to pulverize, degrading the performance of the battery. Cui's battery addresses this problem with nanotechnology. In this battery lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter one thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. These wires can store a charge of about 2,000 milliamp hours per gram. Researchers in the past made electrodes from pure crystalline silicon nanowire and these wires had triple the storage capacity of graphite electrodes but they lasted up to only 20 cycles.
This nanowire batteries stores 10 times more electricity than the traditional lithium ion batteries. This can be very useful for the auto manufacturers who produce electric cars. These could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels. Electrical storage capacity of these batteries depends on how much lithium can be held in the battery's anode and this anode is typically made up of carbon. But silicon has a much higher capacity than carbon.
Working of these batteries is explained by silicon placed in the battery swells as it absorbs the positively charged lithium ions and it shrinks while using the battery because lithium is drawn out of the silicon. This expansion and shrinkage cycle causes the silicon to pulverize, degrading the performance of the battery. Cui's battery addresses this problem with nanotechnology. In this battery lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter one thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. These wires can store a charge of about 2,000 milliamp hours per gram. Researchers in the past made electrodes from pure crystalline silicon nanowire and these wires had triple the storage capacity of graphite electrodes but they lasted up to only 20 cycles.
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