Sand-Based Batteries Outperform Others Up to 3 Times, Study Finds

News Max ^ | July 10 2014 | Nick Sanchez

[PoloSec]

Sand-based batteries may soon replace the standard graphite-based battery, potentially tripling the industry standard for charge capacity.

"This is the holy grail – a low cost, non-toxic, environmentally friendly way to produce high performance lithium ion battery anodes," said Zachary Favors, a graduate student working at University of California, Riverside, whose research was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports this week.

Graphite has long been the standard material for the anodes in lithium ion batteries, but scientists have wrung nearly all they can from it. Many have moved on to experimenting with nanoscale silicon as a replacement, but The Economic Times reported that "it degrades quickly and is hard to produce in large quantities."

Looking to overcome these barriers, Favors searched for a way to make silicon cheaply, and ended up at the beach.

[eartrumpet]

Doesn’t that disturb all the little sand critters living under the surface?

[Red Badger]

The sieve is pretty coarse, and it doesn’t go more than a couple of inches down. Plus we don’t have a lot of critters living in the sand between the high tide mark and the water like the Atlantic does.......................

[Red Badger]

[4rcane]

I’ve read that more efficient to generate electricity at larger scale using oil than using internal combustion engine in cars. Kinda like, its more efficient to generate electricity using coal at power stations than generating electricity at home using coal

[ansel12]

Alkalines leak, even people that don’t use batteries much, should use rechargeables to protect their electronics.

[roadcat]

A couple months ago I bought a sandbox for my toddler granddaughters to play in. Filled it with three bags of sand. Fifty pound bags. With 150 pounds of sand, that sandbox isn’t moving anywhere. The kids are managing to lift buckets of it and spill it everywhere.

[Political Junkie Too]

Save the sand crabs! Save the sand crabs!

-PJ

[lonevoice]

LOL! So sadly true.

[SampleMan]

I've read the opposite. You have to look at all efficiency loss in the system. If you burned straight crude at the power plant, you might be right, as distilling gasoline from crude takes a lot of energy in and of itself.

If you are using diesel/fuel oil to run large generators or heat steam for turbines, then I'm very skeptical that it could be more efficient than directly using it in a vehicle engine.

[bluedogpdx]

Yeah, I have not had any rechargeables leak on me the way alkalines do.

And I guess alkalines still sell because they’re cheaper and maybe because recharging is too complicated for lots of people.

[ansel12]

Even if a badly abused rechargeable did leak, which is extremely rare, it supposedly leaves only a white powdery residue which can be brushed away and which doesn’t ruin the electronics.

I had too many alkalines leak and ruin things to continue using them, and now with rechargeables holding a charge for up to 5 years when sitting in the drawer between charges, and with better flashlights and electronics being built to run better and longer using them instead of the alkalines, which have a different electric release profile, people need to make the switch.