I cannot decide if that Soundcloud laugh was completely distracting, or whether it improved the storytelling.
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The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#32What I'm worried about is the waste of lithium and other battery/accumulator metals. In theory, people should turn electronic devices and batteries to recycling facilities, but a large part of the population ignores the rules and throws their gadgets into the trash when broken... I wonder if someday we will find a way to "separate" trash on atomar level (i.e. put arbitrary stuff in on one side, get raw atoms on the o…
Well that would require a lot of energy !
Not necessarily. A lot of our trash is in complex molecules. If the binding energy of those molecules is higher than the binding energy of the simpler elements/compounds that we get out then, in theory, the process would also be energy positive.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 7% extra efficiency per year means electric cars will have twice the capacity in 10 years...and then double up again in 10 more years...and so on. An example of the dangers of extrapolating. CPU speeds kept going up - until they didn't. Battery tech is not going to keep going up 7% each year. Although perhaps his 60% improvement will show exactly at the right time to effectively be 7% better than the previous year.
We are actually not so far away from hitting the ceiling with batteries. There are fundamental physical reasons for why you can't put much more than 1eV per atom in a battery. That equates roughly to 850 Wh/kg, if memory serves, and we are currently pushing Li-ion towards 300 Wh/kg. So we can only keep growing at 5% for another couple of decades or so. Regardless of battery chemistry. What people often do to hide thi…
Gasoline manages 12kWh/kg, and I'm sure I've heard people talking about batteries at least approaching that density before, even if only on a theoretical basis.
Leaving aside how safe I'd feel with a supercap of that density under the hood, are you sure about the 800Wh/kg limit? I'd be very interested in seeing a reference.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#34> "Goodenough in his lab at the University of Austin."
There is no University of Austin, it's the University of Texas at Austin, or "UT Austin" - same as there is no "University of Berkeley", but instead, "Cal". ;)
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#35What I'm worried about is the waste of lithium and other battery/accumulator metals. In theory, people should turn electronic devices and batteries to recycling facilities, but a large part of the population ignores the rules and throws their gadgets into the trash when broken... I wonder if someday we will find a way to "separate" trash on atomar level (i.e. put arbitrary stuff in on one side, get raw atoms on the o…
If batteries really are used in cars, they will be, by far, the largest source of bad batteries. And it's pretty tough to just throw away a 800-lb battery. It's the same reason that old car engines are recycled, not trashed.
Right now Nissan will replace the battery in your Leaf. But they _require_ the old one since its value is built into the cost of the replacement.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#36What I'm worried about is the waste of lithium and other battery/accumulator metals. In theory, people should turn electronic devices and batteries to recycling facilities, but a large part of the population ignores the rules and throws their gadgets into the trash when broken... I wonder if someday we will find a way to "separate" trash on atomar level (i.e. put arbitrary stuff in on one side, get raw atoms on the o…
One solution is to collect a payment when you buy a new gadget, then you get it back when you return it for recycling. At the moment recycling technology can already grind stuff into small particles and float it in salts of different densities to separate it. That doesn't go to atomic level of course... I think it's a fundamental outcome of the laws of entropy that separating always takes a lot more energy than mixin…
This is a good idea - and what they already do in the auto industry for parts that can be re-machined and sold again.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#37What I'm worried about is the waste of lithium and other battery/accumulator metals. In theory, people should turn electronic devices and batteries to recycling facilities, but a large part of the population ignores the rules and throws their gadgets into the trash when broken... I wonder if someday we will find a way to "separate" trash on atomar level (i.e. put arbitrary stuff in on one side, get raw atoms on the o…
Todays landfills are tomorrows mines.
razster, you seem to be hell-banned.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#38What I'm worried about is the waste of lithium and other battery/accumulator metals. In theory, people should turn electronic devices and batteries to recycling facilities, but a large part of the population ignores the rules and throws their gadgets into the trash when broken... I wonder if someday we will find a way to "separate" trash on atomar level (i.e. put arbitrary stuff in on one side, get raw atoms on the o…
What ever happened to the trash-to-Syngas plant supposedly operating in New Jersey? How would that handle lithium batteries?
I assume they already separate out valuable materials like aluminum.
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are actually not so far away from hitting the ceiling with batteries. There are fundamental physical reasons for why you can't put much more than 1eV per atom in a battery. That equates roughly to 850 Wh/kg, if memory serves, and we are currently pushing Li-ion towards 300 Wh/kg. So we can only keep growing at 5% for another couple of decades or so. Regardless of battery chemistry. What people often do to hide thi…
Gasoline manages 12kWh/kg, and I'm sure I've heard people talking about batteries at least approaching that density before, even if only on a theoretical basis. Leaving aside how safe I'd feel with a supercap of that density under the hood, are you sure about the 800Wh/kg limit? I'd be very interested in seeing a reference.
Found this article discussing some limits http://chargedevs.com/features/three-of-a-kind-polyplus-reac...
Re: The man who brought us the lithium-ion battery has an idea for a new one
#40A note for those who go looking for the technical details: there aren't many here. According to the article, Dr. Goodenough is being tight-lipped about his work.
Given what happened before you really can't fault him.
How much would he have gotten in royalties anyway? I don't think there are any billionaires who got there just through patent royalties, right?