Digital Home Thoughts: Silicon Nanowires Could Extend Battery Life

"Lithium-ion batteries that use silicon nanowires as an anode could produce up to 10 times the runtime from the same size battery. If Stanford University researchers are on the right track, the holy grail of portable energy may be right around the corner in the form of modified lithium-ion batteries. Assistant Professor Yi Cui believes that integrating silicon nanowires into existing li-ion designs could extend the battery life of packs by a factor of 10. While the basic mechanics of what the battery does would remain the same, substituting a forest-like sponge of silicon nanowires instead of graphite as the battery’s anode material could result in a massive increase in storage capacity. According to Cnet, silicon nanowires can hold many more lithium ions (and therefore many more times the charge) than graphite."

Upcoming amazing battery technology news are nothing new anymore. I remember posting on the battery that will charge in 5 minutes and last 10 years only a couple of weeks ago. So what makes this story different? Well, it looks like your battery will remain the same, it is just that the graphite will be replaced with silicon nano-wires. The emphasis on the fact that the basic battery itself will remain the same gives me more hope that this would make it to market faster than some other radically different solution to battery power. Of course, only time will tell which one of these technologies will we benefit from.