TECHNOLOGY NEWS: ELECTRONICS
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The electrode and electrolyte in a battery prototype from mPhase technologies are separated with nanoscale silicon tubes.
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Over the years, battery technology has struggled to keep up with pace of electronics development. While semiconductor technology continues to progress at a rapid clip, fuelling an array of advances, battery technology has changed relatively little in the past decades. Problems still associated with conventional batteries include toxicity, limited shelf life, and their large size relative to that of electronics. Telecommunications company mPhase Technologies Inc. (Little Falls, NJ, USA; www.mphasetech.com) has turned to nanotechnology to address these issues. After partnering with Bell Labs (Murray Hill, NJ, USA; www.bell-labs.com), the company developed a prototype for a nontoxic lithium battery with a potentially unlimited shelf life. In addition, the nanotechnology-based design could enable the battery to be integrated directly with the silicon-based architecture of RFID tags and lab-on-a-chip devices. Other prospective applications of the Smart NanoBattery include sensors, cell phones, and medical devices.
The battery’s design incorporates tiny electrodes positioned at the bottom of regularly spaced silicon nanotubes, which resemble blades of grass. Situated 1-5 µm apart from each other and measuring 5-10 µm in height, the nanotubes are coated with a fluorocarbon polymer to make them superhydrophobic. When the battery is not in use, the liquid electrolyte remains suspended at the top of the nanotubes. As a result, the electrolyte and electrodes are separated, thereby preventing power drain. Conversely, conventional batteries use a porous mechanical barrier responsible for a power loss of up to 10% per year when the batteries are not in use.
The surface tension of the electrolyte in the Smart NanoBattery can be altered at will using a variety of stimuli including voltage and radio waves. As a result, the electrolyte can be made to drop downward along the length of the nanotubes to the electrode at the bottom, thus establishing an electrical circuit practically instantaneously.
The nontoxic battery is inexpensive to produce using microlectronic manufacturing methods, according to the manufacturer. The battery’s architecture could allow it to be managed by microprocessors, giving it advanced power-management capabilities. This arrangement could enable the battery to carry power independently to different components of an electric device. According to Fred Allen, CEO of mPhase subsidiary Always Ready, the company is planning on bringing the product to the market before the end of the year.
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