Batteries have historically been perceived as something of a staid technology – at least in a lot of minds. I remember back when we were diving into 3-V standards at JEDEC many years ago, and we invited battery folks to help advise us. I came away with the distinct sense that battery chemistry was pretty much what it was and would always be. Yeah, I saw you stifling that yawn…
Well, no more. Batteries are what will save the world! Either by powering electric-powered vehicles over distances that now require petrol or by storing and releasing renewable energy, acting as a buffer between when energy is available and when it’s needed, or by giving our gadgetry extra power and lifetime for doing more things with fewer recharge cycles. Everyone’s looking for the next Big Thing in batteries.
Well, there have been a number of diverse announcements over the last year or so, and we’re going to round some of them up here. Will one of these be the Great Battery Savior for the future? Only time will tell…
Batteries With a Tasty Solid Center
One of the concepts that we’ve discussed before is that of the solid electrolyte (although the original purveyors are gone). Over-simplistically speaking, a battery is a device with an anode and a cathode at two different energy levels and then some medium for transporting ions to get a current flowing. Historically, that electrolyte has been liquid – just like the first electrolyte you probably saw in high-school chemistry class.
