Common Paradox Tech Blog

Barence writes “PC Pro’s contributing editor Paul Ockendon has bought a new lawnmower powered by lithium-ion batteries — part of a recent flood of such lithium-ion-powered garden and workshop tools which are taking over from NiCd and NiMH thanks to lighter weight, longer life and lack of the pernicious ‘memory effect.’ This is pretty much the same battery technology used in laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players, so volume manufacture is already established. Yet laptop manufacturers charge more per Watt-hour than lawnmower makers. This blog investigates whether such a seemingly ludicrous situation can be justified.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Reading the electronic-media narrative as it plays out in many popular tech and news blogs, one would think we are hurtling toward a future where paper is all but unnecessary.

But a new development in battery technology could bring paper right back around to its former place of prominence, using it to power the very digital devices — smartphones, Kindles, laptops, etc. — that are increasingly replacing print.

By coating regular copier paper in ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, Stanford researchers have created highly conductive storage devices that can be bent, folded, and wrapped around other surfaces (energy-storing wallpaper, anyone?). The carbon nanotube ink adheres to the surface of the paper just like normal ink would, making paper the ideal vehicle for these thin, lightweight storage devices.

Since earlier research has shown that silicon nanowire batteries can be up to 10 times more powerful than lithium-ion batteries, researchers are hopeful the paper batteries will be able to power everything from automobiles to laptops to phones with smaller, lighter, more powerful and longer-lasting batteries. The method can also create simple supercapacitors with large surface areas that allow rapid energy discharge, a requirement for automobile power sources that lithium-ion batteries have trouble satisfying.

All of that would just be more pie-in-the-sky battery research if it were not for this: the paper battery technology is basically market-ready. That’s not to say that researchers won’t need some time to iron out the kinks, but power sources based on this technology could be commercialized very soon compared to a lot of the nano-noise circulating in scientific circles. The fact that the process is also very cheap means devices like these could be powering your paper-replacing devices sooner than you think. Get the details straight from Stanford’s Yi Cui below. [PhysOrg, Forbes]

Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. Reporting on what’s new and what’s next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

Who’d have thought that simple pond scum may be the future of battery technology? Demand for portable power sources is increasing–especially for something longer lasting in a small package. Being environmentally friendly wouldn’t hurt. A group of scientists from the Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden, are reporting a breakthrough in the development of a “redox polymer-based electrodes and batteries with high-capacities and very good cycling performances.”  And yes, they’re made from algae–the environmentally repugnant Cladophora, to be precise.

Well, not really algae, but the cellulose from this algae. For the scientifically inclined, the authors write: “We have also shown that it is possible to coat highly porous Cladophora cellulose substrates with homogeneous, several nanometer thick layer of PPy [polypyrrole] to obtain a high-surface area cellulose composite electrode material and that this material exhibits an exceptionally high ion-exchange capacity.”

In layman’s terms: PPy in a homogeneous and uninterrupted nano-thin coating (about 1/50,000th the thickness of a human hair) on Cladophora cellulose can both carry a charge and be molded into paper sheets. All it needs to work is “composite paper separated by an ordinary filter paper soaked with sodium chloride serving as the electrolyte.” Bingo-you got a battery that can hold a charge, shows little degradation over a hundred charging cycles, and can be recharged in as little as 11 seconds.

While algae, or more precisely PPy-cellulose composite materials, hold promise, the scientists don’t expect they’ll be replacing Li-ion batteries anytime soon. Rather, they’ll best be suited for things Li-ion doesn’t do well, such as clothing or wrapping paper that blinks “Happy Birthday.”

Image Credit: American Chemical Society

It seems like we’re constantly hearing about promising battery technologies that could ultimately lead to longer battery life, more power, and smaller units, but as of yet, that big breakthrough hasn’t occurred. Maybe nanotechnology, which is the current hot topic in the battery innovations field, will prove to be different.

Right at this moment, a ton of research is being put into carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for a bunch of uses, including electronics and batteries. Researchers are drawn to CNTs because, according to them, carbon nanotubes are near perfect. That has paved the way for a professor and a UC San Diego graduate student to discover a breakthrough that involves introducing purposeful defects into CNT structures. By doing so, the ‘defective’ CNTs actually work better for the development of super capacitors, DailyTech reports.

"While batteries have large storage capacity, they take a long time to charge; while electrostatic capacitors can charge quickly but typically have limited capacity. However, super capacitors electrochemical capacitors incorporate the advantages of both," Professor Prabhakar Bandaru said.

The duo also discovered that other methods, such as bombarding CNTs with argon or hydrogen, could also increase or decrease the charge capacity. In the end, the two researchers believe that their discovery could ultimately lead to electronics that charge faster and last longer than what’s available today.

Image Credit: jacobsschool.ucsd.edu

It seems like we’re constantly hearing about promising battery technologies that could ultimately lead to longer battery life, more power, and smaller units, but as of yet, that big breakthrough hasn’t occurred. Maybe nanotechnology, which is the current hot topic in the battery innovations field, will prove to be different.

Right at this moment, a ton of research is being put into carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for a bunch of uses, including electronics and batteries. Researchers are drawn to CNTs because, according to them, carbon nanotubes are near perfect. That has paved the way for a professor and a UC San Diego graduate student to discover a breakthrough that involves introducing purposeful defects into CNT structures. By doing so, the ‘defective’ CNTs actually work better for the development of super capacitors, DailyTech reports.

"While batteries have large storage capacity, they take a long time to charge; while electrostatic capacitors can charge quickly but typically have limited capacity. However, super capacitors electrochemical capacitors incorporate the advantages of both," Professor Prabhakar Bandaru said.

The duo also discovered that other methods, such as bombarding CNTs with argon or hydrogen, could also increase or decrease the charge capacity. In the end, the two researchers believe that their discovery could ultimately lead to electronics that charge faster and last longer than what’s available today.

Image Credit: jacobsschool.ucsd.edu

The mPower Emergency Illuminator combines a beautiful design (courtesy of the Porsche Design Studio) with new battery technology. One tube holds two CR123 batteries, while the other stores a Lithium Reserve Battery that has a minimum shelf-life of 20 years.

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“The mPower Reserve Battery offers an unprecedented minimum shelf life of 20 years and has an immediate activation to full power. Through an intricate battery design, mPhase developed a way to eliminate power dissipation before initial activation.”

The flashlight uses an intense, high-performance LED, and has an accessory USB connection to charge your mobile devices. It’s slated to arrive in March, but we hope to get a better look at it at CES in January. [CNETand Yahoo News]

Windows 7 Sales 234% Higher Than Vista…Battery Juice No Longer Just an Expression, Still Not as Tasty as Orange Juice…Verizon Calls AT&T’s Ad Lawsuit “Junk”…Air Filter Uses Plants to Get Rid of Yer Weed Smoke

Windows 7 Sales 234% Higher Than Vista

NPD declared sales for Windows 7 were 234% higher than the sales for Windows Vista in the same amount of time on the market, says Nick Wingfield at the WSJ’s Seattle desk. Oddly, Windows PC sales were down, 6% lower than they were during the Vista launch weeks. The NPD analyst take: “I think it’s mixed. We would have liked to see a stronger jump on the hardware side.” The non-analyst take: People who had XP knew that switching to Vista would suck without a new machine; now, the opposite is true, with so many people keeping their old machines but trying any means necessary to rid them of Vista. Still, these are early days, and we already knew pre-orders were insane. I’m just curious to see if PC sales will pick up for the holidays. [WSJ - Image Source]

Battery Juice No Longer Just an Expression, Still Not as Tasty as Orange Juice

You know how the Air Force has been working on a secret water-based battery technology for 25 years, but couldn’t get it to work because of water’s damned evaporative property? OK, me neither, but this research, which bears the ironically simple name “metal-air,” might become our next great battery technology. They won’t be using water, though. Instead, they’ll use a clear, viscous, electrically conductive and mercifully non-volatile substance called ionic liquid. This stuff isn’t going to be powering your Zune until the Zune itself is pretty much an implant (or a smart tattoo), but if you’re curious, you should check out the super over-my-head chemical explanation. [MIT Tech Review - Image Source]

Verizon Calls AT&T’s Ad Lawsuit “Junk”

As if AT&T’s stupid “Map For That” lawsuit wasn’t embarrassing enough on its own, Verizon Wireless’s Jeffrey Nelson got a chance to ridicule it when AdWeek called him for comment. “This is a junk lawsuit,” he said. “It’s surprising that rather than defend the ‘blue’ hot spots on their 3G map, our competitor instead focuses on their white spaces.” This isn’t working out according to plan, is it, AT&T? Reminds me of the Trojan Rabbit scene in Python’s Holy Grail. [AdWeek via AllThingsD]

Air Filter Uses Plants to Get Rid of Yer Weed Smoke

There’s a new air filter that draws air through the leaves, roots and soil of a house plant in order to filter impurities from the room. Well, it was designed in 2007, but it’s now a reality. Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking? If you grow pot in the filter, when you smoke it, the plant itself that bestowed it upon you can filter the smoke, and maybe recapture some THC for bonus stickiness? Wait, what? Oh man, I’m freaking out. You’re crazy. This is crazy. Seriously. Let’s do it. [Inhabitots]

More than anything else, battery technology holds back mobile innovation. Sure, we’d all like super fast mobile CPUs, but the 10 minutes of battery life we’d get isn’t a good trade off. Battery technology has, thus far, advanced at a depressingly slow rate. However, rechargeable zinc-air batteries could actually deliver changes next year.

A company called ReVolt claims to have developed a way to make zinc-air batteries rechargeable. The batteries use oxygen from the air to generate current. Also, they don’t contain any of the toxic materials that are found in lithium-ion batteries, which are estimated to only hold one-third as much power.

In sciency terms, these batteries rely on reduction/oxidation reactions between a zinc and air (oxygen) electrodes. By using new gelling and binding agents, the previously single use batteries can be recharged. They have been tested for up to 100 cycles, but could be capable of 300-500. Smaller batteries for cell phones and hearing aids are supposed to show up in 2010. If that goes well, larger versions for electric cars could be produced. Will this revolutionize the tech world, or is it just so much hot air?

If you are in the market for a decent laptop, then Apple just made things a little bit more interesting – yet again – by announcing a new MacBook.

Apple’s new glossy white unibody plastic MacBook is available in a 13-inch model, from £799 upwards, depending on spec.

The screen is LED backlit and the machine features the glass multitouch trackpad previously only available on the costlier, spritelier MacBook Pro series.

MacBook’s gizzards

Inside Apple’s new MacBook you will find a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), an NVIDIA 9400 GPU and a 250GB in SuperDrive with double-layer support.

On the side of the machine you will find the usual Ethernet port, a couple of USBs, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

“The new MacBook includes many of the great features found on the innovative MacBook Pro, such as an LED-backlit display, glass Multi-Touch trackpad and built-in long-life battery,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing claimed.

“With the only lineup of notebooks all featuring unibody enclosures, LED-backlit displays and long-life battery technology, there’s never been a better time to switch to a Mac.”

Available today. Go, students and would-be designers! Go directly to Apple!

From wireless controllers to tail-less mice, it’s a good bet you own a set of rechargeable batteries, but even these are good for only so many uses before they no longer hold a charge. Sanyo’s "eneloop" brand, which was first announced in late 2005, has won a following thanks to the batteries coming pre-charged from the get-go and offering up to 1,000 recharges before giving up the ghost, and the newest batch performs even better.

According to Sanyo, a breakthrough in battery technology now allows its eneloop brand to be recharged up to 1,500 times, a 50 percent improvement over the original design.

"Incorporating new technologies for ‘material,’ ‘manufacturing methods,’ and ’structure’ developed through the knowledge gained since the first release of eneloop in November 2005, the number of times a battery can be recharged has been increased by 1.5 times to approximately 1,500 times compared to conventional models, which makes the total number of times it is able to be recharged the industry No. 1," Sanyo stated in a press release.

The technologies involved include the development of a "highly-durable super-lattice alloy," an advanced manufacturing method consisting of a new additive being added to the negative electrode material, and the continued use of a thick, outer case.

Read more here.

Image Credit: Sanyo