High-Pressure Process Yields a Brand-New Material That Stores Massive Amounts of Energy

High-Pressure Process Yields a Brand-New Material That Stores Massive Amounts of Energy

www.popsci.c om

Calling the material "the most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy," the researchers created the super-battery inside a diamond anvil cell, a small chamber that can create extremely high pressures within a confined space. The team filled the chamber with xenon difluoride, a white solid usually used to etch silicon conductors.

(visit the link for the full news article)

With lackluster battery tech one of the biggest hurdles standing between existing energy economies and those of the green, renewable future, there's a lot of pressure on researchers to come up with the next big battery breakthrough. And pressure, it turns out, might be just the ticket. By exerting the kinds of super-high pressures found deep within the Earth on a unique compound, researchers at Washington State University's Pullman campus have created a novel new material with the capacity to store huge amounts of mechanical energy as potential chemical power.

Batteries have revolutionized our mobility. From the days of the Sony Walkman to the now maxed out Lithium energy storage cells. Battery tech has remained on a plateau as far as innovation has been concerned.

These scientists have now made a discovery that can take our mobility to heights. This new discovery can help us break away from fossil fuels as this energy storage device can make it possible to have battery driven vehicles that can travel more than 50 miles on a single charge.

Very excited to see the applications this new tech would be employed in. Anything that uses a battery now will evolve into something even greater.

www.popsci.c om
(visit the link for the full news article)

First thought...kneejerk me

ENERGON CUBES!
en.wikipedia.org...(power_source)
Crystal stuctures that hold massive amounts of energy perfect!

Now THAT is some good news!

Btw.. link is broken OP

Originally posted by Xcouncil=wisdom
First thought...kneejerk me

ENERGON CUBES!
en.wikipedia.org...(power_source)
Crystal stuctures that hold massive amounts of energy perfect!

Laserbeak! Ravage! Eject! Eject! Ejeeeectt!

Sounds neat in all seriousness. Does the material need to be kept at an extreme pressure? portability and explosiveness? Will it power my lightsaber?

Problem is that how much energy is required to create them and are they one time use only? Are you able to recharge them or what not...

I've already heard that quartz can replace hardrives and stores tons of data, this is a good find and environmentally friendly. Plastics can be made from plants and crystals can store data, there was never any need for oil, Tesla proved that already.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


I was just thinking when I read the article that there is no way these will be rechargable. Still, if they last long enough, it could be worth it. People already use Duracells or whatever and they aren't rechargable. Of course, Duracells aren't selling at the price of diamond, either.

I don't think the article said how much energy the battery stores or how efficient it is. Simple conservation of energy will mean that it'll take at least as much energy to make the battery as is stored in it, but whether it takes significantly more or not, they didn't say, which makes me suspect that either the numbers aren't very promising, or whoever wrote the article didn't know. Still, even if the efficiency in creating the battery is downright horrible, if its storage capacity is large enough, it still may find some niche uses.

edit: I should clarify, rather than being unrechargable, I should say that they would be extremely difficult to recharge, since you'd need whatever device the researchers used to make it in order to recharge it. Assuming you had one of those, you could recharge it, I would think, unless something about the process is irreversible, for instance, maybe the diamond will not be able to stand the stress of very many recharges in this way? Again, the article didn't go into too much detail.

[edit on 9-7-2010 by DragonsDemesne]

I had read along time ago, when people spoke of compression of materials, from a normal perspective.
Things begin to change after start to compress materials past normal concepts, like you can only put so much iton that space.
It would be intresting to see how these things are reacting at atomic, and sub atomic levels.
They say nothing is there, getting to these levels, but the electro magnatic forces alone would be unbelievable.

Its interesting but they don't say they have a way to extract the energy in a controlled useful manner. I'm curious how you would get it out in a controlled release and generate electrical energy from it. If you cant its of little practical use, at the moment.

Its interesting materials research which should be funded. Which was probably the point of the press release in the first place.

This kinda sounds like them using this kind of technology for a quantum computer memory base.(If I remember correctly. I even had a thread when they released it)
Here..
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Any one see that new movie "Knight and Day", with Tom "the Scientologist" Cruise?

Don't want to ruin the movie if you have not, but it involved an energy source exactly like whats being described here.

Might be worth checking out. Every one around here keeps saying how much Hollyweird is sending hidden messages and such, well this would be a prime example.

look up electrinium batteries. This is not new. And it will disappear off the radar quickly. What company wants to sell batteries then don't need to be replaced every couple years or sooner?

All you need to do is keep the electrons lined up permanently and you have a permanent battery that will never run out. Current batteries simply loose their alignment because the storage material is too soft so to speak.

reply to post by hawkiye


Excellent post. I fully agree. Every x years a revolutionary technology is developed that is either bought by defense or some multinational and disappears of the face of the earth.

I'm still waiting for that paint they once discovered that could be used as speaker, display and color morphing.

I do not argue the fact that any such meaningful tech is bought by giant corporations just to have it not come out in the mainstream.

But to have releases such as these, it goes to show that it is possible. Though these corporations might stop from going mainstream, eventually someone else might be able replicate the process or even make it more efficient for everyday use. Tech is constantly advancing and there will never be a void of ideas.

Like the new HIV-human antibody treatment just discovered, governments will take hold of such technology to make it available for general use.

HIV- Human Antibody Treatment

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


Probably not one time use. Nothing is truly one time use if it is a chemical battery like this one. Just add more electrons, and wala.

Considering 8 valance electrons of Xe, it is pretty cool.

yeah right, call me when WalMart has em for 3.99 rolled bak even...til then it really means very bloody little to anyone ....Its getting sickening hearing about all this hopeful stuff that probably wont make it into the mainstream before my times up....
Id like to see some truley new energy technology on the market, but all we get is popular mechanics and promises...blah!

I don't want to be insulting but it appears most people in this thread do not know how a conventional battery, or rechargeable battery actually works.

To recharge a battery no you do not add electrons, you use electricity to reverse the reaction, but most batteries are not designed for that. Electrons are not lost in this process.

Also Xenon has 8 valance electrons which makes it pretty much 100% inert.

All you need to do is keep the electrons lined up permanently and you have a permanent battery that will never run out. Current batteries simply loose their alignment because the storage material is too soft so to speak.

That's not how a conventional battery works at all. Maybe you are thinking of magnets.

If you want a conventional battery that never runs out you require an unlimited amount of reactants, or you could reverse the reaction but then you are adding energy to it at one point.

look up electrinium batteries. This is not new. And it will disappear off the radar quickly. What company wants to sell batteries then don't need to be replaced every couple years or sooner?

Something was created on a laboratory scale. Perhaps the reason you are not seeing it commercialized is because it is currently on a laboratory scale, and is simply not ready to be commercialized. FYI I can make Gummi bear (or a jelly baby) burn for about 30 seconds at very, very, high temperatures, but that doesn't mean it's a new revolutionary fuel. Also it's possible that it would be every battery companies dream to implement a perfect battery technology, because then they can sell it and be light years ahead of their competitors. But that's just conjecture.

[edit on 10/7/2010 by C0bzz]

Hmm
What happened to my energon cubes
They were supposed to be here by now

sad face