Here is a news article: Apple and Google just announced new tablets and smartphones touting the latest technological advances, but one thing those devices can't brag is a battery made with portobello mushrooms. According to new research from engineers at the University of California at Riverside, however, future gadgets might. 
  
 In a paper published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports on Tuesday, researchers from the university's Bourns College of Engineering describe how they created a new type of high-carbon lithium ion battery component using heat-treated nanoribbons from the skins of portobello mushrooms. 
  
 They did that in an attempt to replace synthetic graphite as the current industry standard for anodes, or positive terminals. Synthetic graphite has a high manufacturing cost because it requires significant chemical preparation and activation, researcher Mihri Ozkan told UCR Today. Moreover, the preparation process uses a series of acids and bases that are harmful to the environment, so researchers from a number of institutions are searching for alternatives that are inexpensive, easy to produce and environmentally friendly. 
  
 Beau Lark/Corbis 
  
 Portobello mushrooms are an ideal candidate to replace synthetic graphite for a multitude of reasons, the researchers say. The mushrooms become just the right kind of porous when heated to about 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit), giving them much more space for liquid and air to pass through. This heat-treatment creates more room for the storage and transfer of energy and, theoretically, better batteries. 
  
 Perhaps more importantly, portobello mushrooms are high in potassium salt, which makes the pores more accessible to the electrolytes in the battery with each charge and discharge cycle, which could actually increase the battery's capacity over time. So instead of a battery that degrades with each cycle and requires more frequent recharges, mushroom batteries might actually get better with age. 
  
 Mushroom lithium ion batteries aren't going to replace traditional batteries anytime soon, as the researchers say the technology needs more optimization before such biological anodes can replace the standard synthetic graphite ones. But the paper shows that batteries made out of organic biological materials that are cheap, environmentally friendly and easy to produce are feasible. 
  
 You can learn more about the team's research by reading the article in full on the journal Nature Scientific Reports' online site here. Now, all we need are some batteries made out of olives and green peppers and we'll have one truly powerful pizza combination. ||||| Magnesium Ion Some researchers are looking beyond lithium. The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) is funding high-risk, high-reward technology, such as the magnesium ion battery being developed at Pellion Technologies, an MIT spin-off. Pellion says its batteries will have twice the energy density as existing lithium-ion batteries for both consumer products and electric vehicles. At the same time, Toyota researchers in Michigan say they are developing their own magnesium battery for an EV that can run twice the distance as current batteries on a single charge, but don’t expect it until 2020. The race is on. 
  
 Lithium Air One materials scientist told me that lithium air is the "grand slam home run" of energy density. Lithium-air batteries differ from lithium-ion batteries in that they use carbon for their positive electrode instead of metal oxides. Carbon is lighter and reacts with oxygen in the surrounding air to produce electrical current. Although it promises a 1,000-mile range instead of just 125 miles for electric vehicles, lithium air batteries have also proven to be unstable. The big problem is that lithium ignites when it contacts moist air. But IBM researchers in California and Switzerland reported this month that they have solved a key problem in the battery’s electrochemistry by finding a different kind of electrolyte solution. IBM hopes to have a prototype lithium-air battery by 2013. Startups like Berkeley-based PolyPlus are also hunting for this "holy grail" of battery tech. Critics say that lithium-air research has been underway for two decades without complete success. 
  
 Solid State Lithium Ion For electric vehicles, weight, range and safety are the big concerns. One idea is using solid state technology that doesn’t have a liquid electrolyte solution for a lithium-ion fuel cell. "That gives our cells greater energy density and also potentially reduces system complexity dramatically,” said Ann Marie Sastry, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Sakti3. The firm's batteries pack more power into less space, said Sastry, a University of Michigan professor of materials science and engineering. There's no flammable material either, something that’s recently plagued the Chevy Volt’s battery. GM and Khosla Ventures are backing Sakti3’s research and development efforts. Meanwhile in Japan, Toyota announced recently that its own solid state battery with a 600-mile range will be ready for roll-out sometime around 2015. 
  
 Sodium Ion Pittsburgh-based Aquion Energy is betting on simple, non-toxic materials for their grid storage battery system. "It’s made out saltwater, cotton, charcoal and dirt, actually lithium manganese oxide," said Ted Wiley, Aquion’s vice president of business development. "Everything we're made out of is cheap and staying cheap." Aquion is building shipping-container-size storage cells for solar, wind and other renewable energy producers who need to store the electricity they make before selling it to the grid. It’s a hybrid battery using the food preservative, sodium sulfate, and is based on research coming out of Carnegie Mellon University’s school of engineering. This simple and inexpensive concept should also work to augment diesel generators in remote areas, Wiley said, or back up the power supply of homes and businesses. 
  
 Lithium Imide When Leyden Energy’s Noam Kedem was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, he was struck by the fact that almost nobody could talk on the phone after 3 p.m. "Everyone was running from charger to charger," Kedem said. To meet the demand for more power and longer life, Fremont, Calif.,-based Leyden is using a unique electrolyte salt solution with existing lithium ion technology. Kedem says that doubles the number of laptop or cellphone battery charges from 350 cycles to more than 800. Kedem says their batteries can also operate up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit without producing hydrofluoric acid or the swelling that can occur when batteries heat up as they run multiple applications. Canada’s Dr. Battery retailer began selling Leyden’s first rechargeable battery pack, and the firm is beginning mass production of tablet and cellphone batteries this year. Kedem says the firm is testing a prototype electric vehicle battery using the same electrolyte platform. 
  
 What do smart phones, electric vehicles and solar panels have in common? They all demand more and more battery power to keep our homes, jobs and vehicles running. Lithium ion is still the "gold standard," but researchers are looking at the entire periodic table for new combinations of elements that can conduct and store electrons in smarter ways. And the sooner they find it, the sooner society can get off fossil fuels and use more sustainable energy sources. “With the combination of new materials, new design concepts, and new production and manufacturing methodologies, I believe we will get there,” said Esther Takeuchim, professor of advanced power systems at SUNY Buffalo, Here’s a look at five new battery techs – some ready for market in the next year, others just over the horizon: 
  
 Mushrooms never cease to amaze. They’re one of the weirdest organisms on the planet, and we keep coming up with unexpected uses for them. Actually, some people think mushrooms aren’t from this planet at all. Really. 
  
 Now comes word that researchers at Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have found yet another use for mushrooms — in batteries. 
  
 Magic Mushrooms In My Yard: Photos 
  
 The UC research team has developed a new kind of lithium-ion battery anode using portobello mushrooms, which could eventually replace the industry standard of synthetic graphite. Besides being less expensive and eco-friendlier, the mushrooms are potentially more efficient as well, thanks to their highly porous composition. 
  
 The development could have a fairly big impact in multiple industries, actually. We’re likely to be using a lot more batteries in coming years, particularly in consumer electronics and electric vehicles. By using biological materials, we can bring down costs and expend less energy in the manufacturing process. 
  
 Synthetic graphite, on the other hand, has a relatively high manufacturing cost due to specific preparation and purification processes that can also be harmful to the environment, according to the research team. 
  
 Some Mushrooms Glow, And Here’s Why 
  
 The mushroom anodes’ porosity creates more space for the transfer of energy, which can improve battery performance. But even better, according to the UC team, mushroom anodes could actually result in batteries that increase in efficiency over time, due to the organic material’s high potassium salt content. 
  
 “With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time,” says researcher Brennan Campbell in press materials accompanying the announcement. 
  
 Mushrooms are also, as a rule, more tasty than graphite. Everybody wins. The research findings were published today in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. ||||| Structural characterization was conducted on the PM CSTs using SEM, observing pyrolysis-induced morphological transformations at the micro- and nanoscale. From the micrographs in Fig. 2, it can be seen that the common microstructural feature is nanoribbons, with a sometimes wrinkled appearance. They make up an extremely thin, secondary electron-transparent array of interconnected, branching ribbons with widths of about 10 μm, lengths of several tens of microns or longer, and a thickness of about 20–100 nm. A key structural difference making 700CSTs (Fig. 2a,b) distinct from 900CSTs (Fig. 2c,d) and 1100CSTs (Fig. 2e,f) is the presence of round salt pockets. These salt pockets are thought to form during heating, as water escapes and naturally-present biological salts aggregate, both within the chitin-based organics, and on the surface. At temperatures above 900 °C, these salt pockets disappear, having exceeded the melting points of most salts present. It should also be noted that, especially in Fig. 2a,e, the nanoribbons form a network. There is also layering and/or pseudo-layering, as evidenced in Fig. 2c, which shows a lateral view of the layered ribbon networks. 
  
 Figure 2: Low to high magnification SEM of PM CST anodes heat-treated at 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d), and 1100 °C (e,f) (scale bars for (a–f), respectively: 100 μm, 10 μm, 50 μm, 10 μm, 100 μm, and 10 μm). Full size image 
  
 Observations were also made on higher-magnification SEM micrographs of the various PM CSTs. As mentioned, biological salts (primarily KCl) organize in pockets of varying sizes, and begin to create additional void space at 700 °C. However, the melting point of KCl is 770 °C, and above this temperature the salts escape the carbon structure more completely. As captured in Fig. 3a,b, salt deposits are still present at the surface of the nanoribbons, having a wide diameter distribution (although some pores are still formed). Beginning in Fig. 3c,d, no surface salts or salt pockets are present, and instead there is a hierarchically porous texture. Pores observable from SEM have diameters between 26 nm or higher, down to an observable 6 nm, which is the lowest feature size observable from the SEM images. From this data, it is confirmed that this material becomes mesoporous upon pyrolysis, with pore sizes of 6–26 nm observable by SEM. Images in Fig. 3e,f, representing the 1100CSTs, display an even wider range of porosity than the 900CSTs, with macropores of up to 100 nm in diameter. To confirm that porosity exists throughout the bulk of the nanoribbons, rather than solely on the surface, cross-sections of the nanoribbons were captured under SEM, shown in Fig. 3d,f. In these images, the presence of pores is evident throughout the entire thickness of the nanoribbons. 
  
 Figure 3: Low to high magnification SEM showing the increasing degree of porosity of PM CST nanoribbons as temperature increases, including sample heat-treated at 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d), and 1100 °C (e,f) (Scale bars for (a–f), respectively: 1 μm, 200 nm, 500 nm, 100 nm, 1 μm, and 100 nm). Full size image 
  
 Detailed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis was also conducted on the 1100CSTs, since they were both the highest performing anode material, and displayed the highest apparent porosity from SEM. The microstructure seen in the lower-magnification images (Fig. 4a,b) is consistent with what is seen in SEM, which is a thin, highly mesoporous nanoribbon architecture. The range of pore size is confirmed from Fig. 4b,d,f identifying macropores and mesopores. Remarkably, TEM analysis also confirms the presence of worm or channel-shaped micropores, as observed in Fig. 4f. The low thickness of the ribbon is observed from the transparency of the structure in Fig. 4a, wherein the lacey carbon from the TEM grid is visible from beneath the sample. The general shape of the meso- and macropores of the nanoribbons is circular, information which supports the idea that salt pocket formation, and subsequent melting induces this type of void space generation. On the other hand, it is hypothesized that the worm-like micropores captured in Fig. 4f are generated through an activation-like process. N 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms show a long, flat plateau for adsorption and desorption, and a significant hysteresis (a characteristic of mesoporous and/or microporous carbons). The BET surface area was measured at 19.6 m2/g, which is a discrepancy in relation to the isotherm and TEM data; this points the prevalence of “blind,” or inaccessible pores formed in the 1100CSTs, which then become accessed after deep cycling. Moreover, our leading hypothesis is that oxygenated organics (polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, amino acids, DNA), combined with the unusually high K concentration, may lead to carbonate formation, and subsequent CO 2 generation; this is that basis of chemical activation, or a similar mechanism. 
  
 Figure 4: TEM of pristine PM 1100CST hierarchically porous nanoribbons, showing macroporosity (a,b), mesoporosity (c,d) and worm-like microporosity (e,f). Full size image 
  
 The phenomenon of small, biological salt pockets causing void spaces of various sizes, from the macroporous to microporous domains, leads us to propose that high PT-pyrolyzed PM CSTs are inherently a self-activating material, by a complex set of mechanisms. It is highly advantageous to have a material that can be naturally primed for optimal performance by simply applying heat-treatment. At PT of 1100 °C, macropores form, facilitating electrolyte infiltration and hence electrolyte interaction with high surface-area hard carbon (shown to be higher capacity than graphite, gravimetrically)7. Mesoporous carbons have been shown to perform with excellent stability over long-cycling in literature8, however, harsh chemical methods are required to achieve such performance. Hierarchically porous carbons, also achieved by many activation methods, tend to improve ion diffusion rates, and expose additional active material for reversible capacity enhancement9,10. 
  
 Spectral data was obtained from the PM CSTs after PTs of 700–1100 °C to analyze elemental composition by point-ID energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and phase information using x-ray diffractometry (XRD) of the free-standing anodes. From Fig. 5a, XRD patterns show the transition from large KCl peaks for the 700CSTs (blue), to the 1100CSTs (black) with no visible peaks of crystalline inorganics. The prevailing model for KOH-activation is shown in Eqn. (1) and (2). At temperatures above 400 °C Eqn. (1) occurs, and above 700 °C Eqn. (2) occurs (gasification of CO 2 occurs throughout this process)10. Further, K 2 O from Eqn. (2) continues to be reduced by carbon to metallic K at above 700 °C. A physical means of activation then occurs, when metallic K diffuses into carbon, expanding the lattice10. Considering the classical chemical and physical models for KOH-activation, it is likely that the biological salts present in the PM provide suitable precursors for similar activation mechanisms. With salt deposits of various sizes composed of KCl, and likely a host of carbonates and phosphates, the PM is an ideal self-activating carbon precursor for PTs above 900 °C. 
  
 Figure 5: Spectral data of the pristine, free-standing PM CSTs at various PTs, including XRD (a) and point-ID EDS (b). Full size image ||||| Porous structure of portabella mushrooms is key to making efficient batteries that could power cell phones and electric vehicles 
  
 RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Can portabella mushrooms stop cell phone batteries from degrading over time? 
  
 Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering think so. 
  
 They have created a new type of lithium-ion battery anode using portabella mushrooms, which are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and easy to produce. The current industry standard for rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes is synthetic graphite, which comes with a high cost of manufacturing because it requires tedious purification and preparation processes that are also harmful to the environment. 
  
 With the anticipated increase in batteries needed for electric vehicles and electronics, a cheaper and sustainable source to replace graphite is needed. Using biomass, a biological material from living or recently living organisms, as a replacement for graphite, has drawn recent attention because of its high carbon content, low cost and environmental friendliness. 
  
 UC Riverside engineers were drawn to using mushrooms as a form of biomass because past research has established they are highly porous, meaning they have a lot of small spaces for liquid or air to pass through. That porosity is important for batteries because it creates more space for the storage and transfer of energy, a critical component to improving battery performance. 
  
 In addition, the high potassium salt concentration in mushrooms allows for increased electrolyte-active material over time by activating more pores, gradually increasing its capacity. 
  
 A conventional anode allows lithium to fully access most of the material during the first few cycles and capacity fades from electrode damage occurs from that point on. The mushroom carbon anode technology could, with optimization, replace graphite anodes. It also provides a binderless and current-collector free approach to anode fabrication. 
  
 "With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time," said Brennan Campbell, a graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at UC Riverside. 
  
 The research findings were outlined in a paper, "Bio-Derived, Binderless, Hierarchically Porous Carbon Anodes for Li-ion Batteries," published today (Sept. 29) in the journal Scientific Reports. It was authored by Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan, both professors in the Bourns College of Engineering, and three of their current or former graduate students: Campbell, Robert Ionescu and Zachary Favors. 
  
 Nanocarbon architectures derived from biological materials such as mushrooms can be considered a green and sustainable alternative to graphite-based anodes, said Cengiz Ozkan, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering. 
  
 The nano-ribbon-like architectures transform upon heat treatment into an interconnected porous network architecture which is important for battery electrodes because such architectures possess a very large surface area for the storage of energy, a critical component to improving battery performance. 
  
 One of the problems with conventional carbons, such as graphite, is that they are typically prepared with chemicals such as acids and activated by bases that are not environmentally friendly, said Mihri Ozkan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. Therefore, the UC Riverside team is focused on naturally-derived carbons, such as the skin of the caps of portabella mushrooms, for making batteries. 
  
 It is expected that nearly 900,000 tons of natural raw graphite would be needed for anode fabrication for nearly six million electric vehicle forecast to be built by 2020. This requires that the graphite be treated with harsh chemicals, including hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids, a process that creates large quantities of hazardous waste. The European Union projects this process will be unsustainable in the future. 
  
 The Ozkan's research is supported by the University of California, Riverside. 
  
 This paper involving mushrooms is published just over a year after the Ozkan's labs developed a lithium-ion battery anode based on nanosilicon via beach sand as the natural raw material. Ozkan's team is currently working on the development of pouch prototype batteries based on nanosilicon anodes. 
  
 The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed patents for the inventions above. 
  
 ### |||||
A summary of this is?
– It isn't happening just yet, but a new scientific paper shows that it's possible, and perhaps even advantageous, to make batteries out of organic biological materials that have the added benefit of being cheap, environmentally friendly, and easy to produce, reports CNET. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside, report in the journal Scientific Reports that they've developed a new kind of lithium-ion battery anode that uses portobello mushrooms, which turn out to be so efficient (thanks largely to their porousness) that they could even replace the industry standard of synthetic graphite. The development could affect multiple industries, reports Discovery, which notes that biological materials might enable us to bring down costs and expend less energy in manufacturing, while synthetic graphite demands specific preparation and purification processes that are not only more costly but less environmentally friendly. The mushroom carbon anode tech could ultimately replace graphite anodes, the team reports in a press release: "With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time," says one researcher. (Check out why some mushrooms glow in the dark.)
Här är en nyhetsartikel: Apple och Google har precis meddelat nya surfplattor och smartphones som tippar de senaste tekniska framstegen, men en sak som dessa enheter inte kan skryta är ett batteri gjort med portobello svamp. Enligt ny forskning från ingenjörer vid University of California vid Riverside kan dock framtida prylar komma att göra det. I en artikel publicerad i tidskriften Nature Scientific Reports på tisdag beskriver forskare från universitetets Bourns College of Engineering hur de skapade en ny typ av litiumjonbatterikomponent med högkolväte som använder värmebehandlade nanoribboner från skal av portobellosvampar. De gjorde detta i ett försök att ersätta syntetisk grafit som den nuvarande industristandarden för anoder, eller positiva terminaler. Syntetisk grafit har en hög tillverkningskostnad eftersom det kräver betydande kemisk beredning och aktivering, berättade forskaren Mihri Ozkan UCR Today. Dessutom använder beredningsprocessen en rad syror och baser som är skadliga för miljön, så forskare från ett antal institutioner söker efter alternativ som är billiga, lätta att producera och miljövänliga. Beau Lark/Corbis Portobello-svampar är en idealisk kandidat för att ersätta syntetisk grafit av många olika anledningar, säger forskarna. Svamparna blir precis rätt sorts porösa när de värms upp till omkring 1.100 grader Celsius, vilket ger dem mycket mer utrymme för vätska och luft att passera igenom. Denna värmebehandling skapar mer utrymme för lagring och överföring av energi och teoretiskt sett bättre batterier. Kanske viktigare, portobello svamp är hög i kaliumsalt, vilket gör porerna mer tillgängliga för elektrolyterna i batteriet med varje laddning och urladdningscykel, vilket faktiskt skulle kunna öka batteriets kapacitet med tiden. Så i stället för ett batteri som bryts ned med varje cykel och kräver mer frekventa laddningar, kan svampbatterier faktiskt bli bättre med åldern. Svamplitiumjonbatterier kommer inte att byta ut traditionella batterier inom kort, eftersom forskarna säger att tekniken behöver mer optimering innan sådana biologiska anoder kan ersätta de vanliga syntetiska grafitbatterierna. Men papperet visar att batterier tillverkade av organiska biologiska material som är billiga, miljövänliga och lätta att producera är genomförbara. Du kan läsa mer om teamets forskning genom att läsa artikeln i sin helhet på tidskriften Nature Scientific Reports hemsida här. Nu behöver vi bara några batterier gjorda av oliver och grön paprika och vi får en riktigt kraftfull pizzakombination. •• Magnesiumjon Vissa forskare tittar bortom litium. Institutionen för energis byrå för avancerade forskningsprojekt för energi (ARPA-E) finansierar högrisk-, högbelönad teknik, såsom magnesiumjonbatteriet som utvecklas på Pellion Technologies, en MIT-spin-off. Pellion säger att dess batterier kommer att ha dubbelt så stor energitäthet som befintliga litiumjonbatterier för både konsumentprodukter och elfordon. Samtidigt säger Toyotaforskare i Michigan att de utvecklar ett eget magnesiumbatteri för ett EV som kan köra dubbelt så långt som aktuella batterier på en enda laddning, men inte förvänta sig det förrän 2020. Loppet är på. Litium Air En materialforskare berättade för mig att litium luft är "grand slam home run" av energitäthet. Litium-luftbatterier skiljer sig från litiumjonbatterier genom att de använder kol till sin positiva elektrod istället för metalloxider. Kol är lättare och reagerar med syre i den omgivande luften för att producera elektrisk ström. Även om det utlovar en 1000-mils räckvidd istället för bara 125 miles för elfordon, har litiumluftbatterier också visat sig vara instabila. Det stora problemet är att litium antänds när det kommer i kontakt med fuktig luft. Men IBM-forskare i Kalifornien och Schweiz rapporterade denna månad att de har löst ett viktigt problem i batteriets elektrokemi genom att hitta en annan sorts elektrolytlösning. IBM hoppas att ha en prototyp litium-luft batteri till 2013. Startups som Berkeley-baserade PolyPlus är också på jakt efter denna "heliga graal" av batteriteknik. Kritiker säger att litium-luft forskning har pågått i två decennier utan fullständig framgång. Solid State Litiumjon För elbilar är vikt, räckvidd och säkerhet de stora problemen. En idé är att använda solid state-teknik som inte har en flytande elektrolytlösning för en litiumjonbränslecell. "Det ger våra celler större energitäthet och minskar även systemkomplexiteten dramatiskt", säger Ann Marie Sastry, VD för Ann Arbor-baserade Sakti3. Företagets batterier packar mer ström i mindre utrymme, sade Sastry, en University of Michigan professor i materialvetenskap och teknik. Det finns inget brandfarligt material heller, något som nyligen plågat Chevy Volts batteri. GM och Khosla Ventures stödjer Sakti3s forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete. Under tiden i Japan meddelade Toyota nyligen att ett eget solid state-batteri med en 600-mils räckvidd kommer att vara redo för utrullning någon gång runt 2015. Natrium Ion Pittsburgh-baserade Aquion Energy satsar på enkla, giftfria material för deras nät lagring batterisystem. "Det är gjort ut saltvatten, bomull, träkol och smuts, faktiskt litium manganoxid", sade Ted Wiley, Aquions vice VD för affärsutveckling. "Allt vi är gjorda av är billigt och billigt." Aquion bygger lagringsceller i rederi-containerstorlek för sol-, vind- och andra producenter av förnybar energi som behöver lagra den el de producerar innan de säljer den till nätet. Det är ett hybridbatteri med hjälp av konserveringsmedlet natriumsulfat, och bygger på forskning som kommer ut från Carnegie Mellon Universitys skola för ingenjörsvetenskap. Denna enkla och billiga koncept bör också arbeta för att öka dieselgeneratorer i avlägsna områden, sade Wiley, eller backa upp strömförsörjningen i hem och företag. Litium Imide När Leyden Energys Noam Kedem var på Consumer Electronics Show i Las Vegas tidigare denna månad, slogs han av det faktum att nästan ingen kunde prata i telefon efter kl. 15.00. "Alla sprang från laddare till laddare", sade Kedem. För att möta efterfrågan på mer kraft och längre livslängd använder Fremont, Calif.,-baserade Leyden en unik elektrolytsaltlösning med befintlig litiumjonteknik. Kedem säger att det dubblar antalet bärbara datorer eller mobilbatteriladdningar från 350 cykler till mer än 800. Kedem säger att deras batterier också kan fungera upp till 140 grader Fahrenheit utan att producera fluorvätesyra eller den svullnad som kan uppstå när batterierna värms upp när de kör flera applikationer. Doktor Canada. Batteriåterförsäljare började sälja Leydens första uppladdningsbara batteripaket, och företaget börjar i år massproducera tabletter och mobiltelefoner. Kedem säger att företaget testar ett prototypbatteri för elbilar med samma elektrolytplattform. Vad har smarta telefoner, elbilar och solpaneler gemensamt? De kräver alla mer och mer batterikraft för att hålla våra hem, jobb och fordon igång. Litiumjon är fortfarande "guldstandarden", men forskare tittar på hela det periodiska systemet för nya kombinationer av grundämnen som kan leda och lagra elektroner på smartare sätt. Och ju snabbare de hittar den, desto snabbare kan samhället få bort fossila bränslen och använda mer hållbara energikällor. “Med kombinationen av nya material, nya designkoncept och nya produktions- och tillverkningsmetoder, tror jag att vi kommer att komma dit,” sade Esther Takeuchim, professor i avancerade kraftsystem på SUNY Buffalo, Här är en titt på fem nya batteritekniker – några redo för marknaden under nästa år, andra strax över horisonten: Mushrooms upphör aldrig att förvåna. De är en av de konstigaste organismerna på planeten, och vi fortsätter att komma på oväntade användningsområden för dem. En del människor tror faktiskt att svamp inte alls kommer från den här planeten. Verkligen. Nu kommer det bud på att forskare vid University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering, har funnit ännu en användning för svamp — i batterier. Magic Mushrooms In My Yard: Foton Forskningsteamet för UC har utvecklat en ny typ av litiumjonbatterianod med hjälp av portobellosvampar, som så småningom skulle kunna ersätta industristandarden för syntetisk grafit. Förutom att svamparna är billigare och miljövänligare är de potentiellt också effektivare tack vare sin mycket porösa sammansättning. Utvecklingen kan faktiskt få ganska stora effekter inom flera branscher. Vi kommer sannolikt att använda mycket mer batterier under de kommande åren, särskilt inom hemelektronik och elbilar. Genom att använda biologiska material kan vi sänka kostnaderna och förbruka mindre energi i tillverkningsprocessen. Syntetisk grafit har däremot en relativt hög tillverkningskostnad på grund av specifika berednings- och reningsprocesser som även kan vara skadliga för miljön, enligt forskargruppen. Några svampar Glöd, och här är varför svampen anoder porositet skapar mer utrymme för överföring av energi, vilket kan förbättra batteriprestanda. Men ännu bättre, enligt UC-teamet, kan svampanoder faktiskt resultera i batterier som ökar i effektivitet med tiden, på grund av det organiska materialets höga kaliumsalthalt. – Med batterimaterial som detta kan framtidens mobiltelefoner se en ökning av körtiden efter många användningar, snarare än en minskning, på grund av skenbar aktivering av blinda porer inom kolarkitekturerna som cellladdningar och urladdningar över tid, säger forskaren Brennan Campbell i pressmaterial som medföljer tillkännagivandet. Svampar är också som regel mer välsmakande än grafit. Alla vinner. Forskningsresultaten publicerades idag i tidskriften Nature Scientific Reports. ••• Strukturell karakterisering genomfördes på PM-CST med hjälp av SEM, observera pyrolys-inducerade morfologiska transformationer på mikro- och nanoskalan. Ur mikrograferna i Fig. 2, kan man se att den gemensamma mikrostrukturella egenskapen är nanoribboner, med ett ibland skrynkligt utseende. De utgör en extremt tunn, sekundär elektrongenomskinlig uppsättning sammankopplade, grenband med bredder på ca 10 μm, längder på flera tiotals mikroner eller längre, och en tjocklek på ca 20–100 nm. En viktig strukturell skillnad som gör 700CST:er (Fig. 2a,b) skilda från 900CST:er (Fig. 2c,d) och 1100CST:er (Fig. 2e,f) är förekomsten af runda saltfickor. Dessa saltfickor tros bildas under uppvärmningen, då vatten flyr och naturligt närvarande biologiska salter aggregat, både inom de kitinbaserade organiska, och på ytan. Vid temperaturer över 900 °C försvinner dessa saltfickor, efter att ha överskridit smältpunkterna för de flesta förekommande salter. Det bör äfven anmärkas, att, i synnerhet i Fig. 2a,e, Nanoribbons bildar ett nätverk. Det förekommer också skiktning och/eller pseudoskiktning, vilket framgår av Fig. 2c, som visar en sidovy av de skiktade bandnätverken. Figur 2: Låg till hög förstoring SEM av PM CST-anoder värmebehandlade vid 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d) och 1100 °C (e,f) (skala barer för (a–f), respektive: 100 μm, 10 μm, 50 μm, 10 μm, 100 μm och 10 μm. Full size image Observationer gjordes också på högre-magnification SEM micrographs av de olika PM CSTs. Som nämnts, biologiska salter (främst KCl) organisera i fickor av varierande storlek, och börja skapa ytterligare tomrum vid 700 °C. KCl:s smältpunkt är dock 770 °C, och över denna temperatur undgår salterna kolstrukturen mer fullständigt. Som fångad i Fig. 3a,b, saltavlagringar finns fortfarande på ytan av nanoribbonerna, med en bred diameter fördelning (även om vissa porer fortfarande bildas). Början i Fig. 3c,d, inga ytsalter eller saltfickor finns, och istället finns det en hierarkiskt porös konsistens. Porer som kan observeras från SEM har diametrar mellan 26 nm eller högre, ner till en observerbar 6 nm, vilket är den lägsta funktionsstorleken som kan observeras från SEM-bilderna. Från dessa data bekräftas att detta material blir mesoporöst vid pyrolys, med porstorlekar på 6–26 nm som kan observeras av SEM. Bilder i Fig. 3e,f, som representerar 1100CST:erna, uppvisar ett ännu bredare porositetsområde än 900CST:erna, med makroporer på upp till 100 nm i diameter. För att bekräfta att det finns porositet i huvuddelen av nanoribbonerna, snarare än enbart på ytan, fångades tvärsnitt av nanoribbonerna under SEM, som visas i Fig. 3d,f. I dessa bilder är förekomsten av porer uppenbar genom hela tjockleken på nanoribbonerna. Figur 3: Låg till hög förstoring SEM som visar den ökande porositeten hos PM CST-nanoribboner när temperaturen ökar, inklusive värmebehandlade prov vid 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d) och 1100 °C (e,f) (Scale bars för (a–f), respektive: 1 μm, 200 nm, 500 nm, 100 nm, 1 μm och 100 nm). Full size image Detaljerad analys av transmissionselektronmikroskopi (TEM) utfördes också på 1100CST:erna, eftersom de båda var det högst presterande anodmaterialet, och uppvisade den högsta skenbara porositeten från SEM. Mikrostrukturen som ses i de lägre-magnifieringsbilderna (Fig. 4a,b) överensstämmer med vad som ses i SEM, som är en tunn, mycket mesoporös nanoribbonarkitektur. Sortimentet af porstorleken bekräftas från Fig. 4b,d,f identifiera makroporer och mesoporer. Anmärkningsvärt är att TEM-analysen också bekräftar förekomsten av mask- eller kanalformade mikroporer, som observerats i Fig. 4f. Bandets låga tjocklek iakttages af strukturens genomskinlighet i Fig. 4a, där det spetsiga kolet från TEM-nätet är synligt under provet. Den allmänna formen av meso- och makroporerna i nanoribbonerna är cirkulär, information som stöder idén att saltfickbildning, och efterföljande smältning inducerar denna typ av tomrumsgenerering. Å andra sidan är det hypoteserat att de maskliknande mikroporerna som fångas i Fig. 4f genereras genom en aktiveringsliknande process. N 2-adsorption/desorptionsisotermer visar en lång, plan platå för adsorption och desorption, och en betydande hysteres (en egenskap hos mesoporösa och/eller mikroporösa kol). BET-ytan mättes till 19,6 m2/g, vilket är en diskrepans i förhållande till isoterm- och TEM-data; detta pekar på prevalensen av ”blinda” eller otillgängliga porer som bildas i 1100CST:erna, vilka sedan blir åtkomliga efter djupcykling. Dessutom är vår ledande hypotes att syresatta organiska ämnen (polysackarider, oligosackarider, aminosyror, DNA), i kombination med den ovanligt höga K-koncentrationen, kan leda till karbonatbildning, och efterföljande CO 2-generering; detta är den grunden för kemisk aktivering, eller en liknande mekanism. Figur 4: TEM av orörd PM 1100CST hierarkiskt porösa nanoskivor, som visar makroporositet (a,b), mesoporositet (c,d) och maskliknande mikroporositet (e,f). Full size image Fenomenet av små biologiska saltfickor som orsakar tomrum av olika storlekar, från makroporösa till mikroporösa domäner, leder oss till att föreslå att höga PT-pyrolyserade PM CSTs är i sig ett självaktiverande material, genom en komplex uppsättning mekanismer. Det är mycket fördelaktigt att ha ett material som naturligt kan förberedas för optimal prestanda genom att helt enkelt tillämpa värmebehandling. Vid PT på 1100 °C bildas makroporer, vilket underlättar elektrolytinfiltration och därmed elektrolytinteraktion med hårt kol med hög ytarea (visas vara högre kapacitet än grafit, gravimetriskt)7. Mesoporösa kol har visat sig fungera med utmärkt stabilitet över lång cykling i litteratur8, men hårda kemiska metoder krävs för att uppnå sådana prestanda. Hierarkiskt porösa kol, som också uppnås med många aktiveringsmetoder, tenderar att förbättra jondiffusionshastigheten, och exponera ytterligare aktivt material för reversibel kapacitetsökning9,10. Spektraldata erhölls från PM-CST efter PT på 700–1100 °C för att analysera elementarsammansättning genom punkt-ID-energi dispersiv röntgenspektroskopi (EDS), och fasinformation med hjälp av röntgendiffractometry (XRD) av de fristående anoderna. Från Fig. 5a, XRD mönster visar övergången från stora KCl toppar för 700CST (blå), till 1100CST (svarta) utan synliga toppar av kristallina oorganiska ämnen. Den rådande modellen för KOH-aktivering visas i Eqn. (1) och (2). Vid temperaturer över 400 °C. (1) förekommer och överstiger 700 °C Eqn. (2) förekommer (förgasning av CO2 sker under hela denna process)10. Vidare K 2 O från Eqn. (2) fortsätter att reduceras med kol till metalliska K vid en temperatur över 700 °C. Ett fysiskt aktiveringsmedel uppstår då, när metalliskt K diffuserar till kol, och utvidgar fackverket10. Med tanke på de klassiska kemiska och fysikaliska modellerna för KOH-aktivering är det troligt att de biologiska salter som finns i partikeln utgör lämpliga prekursorer för liknande aktiveringsmekanismer. Med saltfyndigheter av olika storlekar som består av KCl, och sannolikt en mängd karbonater och fosfater, är PM en idealisk självaktiverande kolprekursorer för PT över 900 °C. Figur 5: Spektraldata för de ofördärvade, fristående PM-CST vid olika PT, inklusive XRD (a) och punkt-ID EDS (b). Full size image »« Porös struktur av portabella champinjoner är nyckeln till att göra effektiva batterier som kan driva mobiltelefoner och elfordon RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Kan portabella champinjoner stoppa mobiltelefonbatterier från att förstöras med tiden? Forskare vid University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering anser det. De har skapat en ny typ av litiumjonbatterianod med hjälp av portabelsvampar, som är billiga, miljövänliga och lätta att producera. Den nuvarande industristandarden för uppladdningsbara litiumjonbatterianoder är syntetisk grafit, vilket medför höga tillverkningskostnader eftersom det kräver omständliga renings- och beredningsprocesser som också är skadliga för miljön. Med den förväntade ökningen av batterier som behövs för elfordon och elektronik behövs en billigare och hållbar källa för att ersätta grafit. Att använda biomassa, ett biologiskt material från levande eller nyligen levande organismer, som ersättning för grafit, har på senare tid uppmärksammats på grund av dess höga kolhalt, låga kostnader och miljövänlighet. UC Riverside ingenjörer drogs till att använda svamp som en form av biomassa eftersom tidigare forskning har etablerat att de är mycket porösa, vilket innebär att de har en hel del små utrymmen för vätska eller luft att passera igenom. Att porositet är viktigt för batterier eftersom det skapar mer utrymme för lagring och överföring av energi, en kritisk komponent för att förbättra batteriprestanda. Dessutom tillåter den höga kaliumsaltkoncentrationen i svampar ökat elektrolytaktivt material över tid genom att aktivera fler porer, vilket gradvis ökar dess kapacitet. En konventionell anod gör att litium kan få full tillgång till det mesta av materialet under de första cyklerna och kapaciteten bleknar från elektrodskador uppstår från och med den punkten. Svampens kolanodteknik kunde, med optimering, ersätta grafitanoder. Det ger också en bindemedelslös och strömsamlare fri inställning till anodtillverkning. "Med batterimaterial som detta, kan framtida mobiltelefoner se en ökning i körtid efter många användningar, snarare än en minskning, på grund av skenbar aktivering av blinda porer inom kolarkitekturerna som cellladdningar och urladdningar över tid," sade Brennan Campbell, en doktorand i materialvetenskap och teknik program på UC Riverside. Forskningsresultaten skisserades i en artikel, "Bio-Derived, Binderless, Hierarkiskt Porous Carbon Anodes for Li-ion Batteries", publicerad idag (Sept. 29) i tidskriften Scientific Reports. Den skrevs av Cengiz Ozkan och Mihri Ozkan, båda professorer i Bourns College of Engineering, och tre av deras nuvarande eller tidigare doktorander: Campbell, Robert Ionescu och Zachary Favors. Nanokolarkitekturer som härrör från biologiska material som svamp kan anses vara ett grönt och hållbart alternativ till grafitbaserade anoder, säger Cengiz Ozkan, professor i maskinteknik och materialvetenskap och ingenjörsvetenskap. De nano-ribbon-liknande arkitekturerna omvandlas vid värmebehandling till en sammankopplad porös nätverksarkitektur som är viktig för batterielektroder eftersom sådana arkitekturer har en mycket stor yta för lagring av energi, en kritisk komponent för att förbättra batteriprestandan. Ett av problemen med konventionella kol, såsom grafit, är att de vanligtvis prepareras med kemikalier som syror och aktiveras av baser som inte är miljövänliga, säger Mihri Ozkan, professor i el- och datateknik. Därför fokuserar UC Riverside-teamet på naturligt härledda kol, såsom huden på locken på portabelsvampar, för att tillverka batterier. Man räknar med att nästan 900 000 ton naturlig rå grafit skulle behövas för anodtillverkning för nästan sex miljoner elfordon som prognosen kommer att byggas till 2020. Detta kräver att grafiten behandlas med hårda kemikalier, bland annat fluorväte- och svavelsyror, en process som skapar stora mängder farligt avfall. Europeiska unionen planerar att denna process kommer att bli ohållbar i framtiden. Ozkans forskning stöds av University of California, Riverside. Denna artikel om svamp publiceras drygt ett år efter att Ozkans labb utvecklat en litiumjonbatterianod baserad på nanokisel via strandsand som den naturliga råvaran. Ozkans team arbetar för närvarande med utveckling av påsprototyper baserade på nanokiselanoder. UCR Office of Technology Commercialization har lämnat in patent för uppfinningarna ovan. En sammanfattning av detta är?
Here's a news article: Apple and Google have just announced new tablets and smartphones that tip the latest technological advances, but one thing these devices can't boast is a battery made with portobello mushrooms. However, according to new research from engineers at the University of California at Riverside, future gadgets may do so. In an article published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports on Tuesday, researchers from the University's Bourns College of Engineering describe how they created a new type of lithium-ion battery component with high hydrocarbon that uses heat-treated nanoribbons from shells of portobello fungi. They did this in an attempt to replace synthetic graphite as the current industrial standard for anodes, or positive terminals. Synthetic graphite has a high cost of manufacturing because it requires significant chemical preparation and activation," said researcher Mihri Ozkan UCR Today. In addition, the processing process uses a range of acids and bases that are harmful to the environment, so researchers from a number of institutions are looking for alternatives that are cheap, easy to produce and environmentally friendly. The Beau Lark/Corbis Portobello sponges are an ideal candidate for replacing synthetic graphite for many different reasons, say the researchers. The mushrooms become just the right kind of porous when heated to about 1,100 degrees Celsius, giving them much more space for fluid and air to pass through. This heat treatment creates more space for the storage and transfer of energy and theoretically better batteries. Perhaps more importantly, portobello mushrooms are high in potassium salt, making the pores more accessible to the electrolytes in the battery with each charge and discharge cycle, which could actually increase the battery's capacity over time. So instead of a battery that breaks down with each cycle and requires more frequent charges, sponge batteries can actually get better with age. Fungal lithium-ion batteries will not replace traditional batteries shortly, as scientists say that technology needs more optimization before such biological anodes can replace the usual synthetic graphite batteries. But the paper shows that batteries made from organic biological materials that are cheap, environmentally friendly and easy to produce are feasible. You can read more about the team's research by reading the article in its entirety on Nature Scientific Report's website here. Now we just need some batteries made of olives and green peppers and we get a really powerful pizza combination. • Magnesium ion Some scientists look beyond lithium. The Department of Energy Agency for Advanced Research Projects for Energy (ARPA-E) funds high-risk, highly-rewarded technologies, such as the magnesium ion battery developed at Pellion Technologies, a MIT spin-off. Pellion says its batteries will have twice the energy density of existing lithium-ion batteries for both consumer products and electric vehicles. At the same time, Toyota researchers in Michigan say they are developing their own magnesium battery for an EV that can run twice as far as current batteries on a single charge, but not expect it until 2020. The race is on. Lithium Air A material scientist told me that lithium air is "grand slam home run" of energy density. Lithium air batteries are different from lithium ion batteries in that they use carbon for their positive electrode instead of metal oxides. Coal is lighter and reacts with oxygen in the surrounding air to produce electric current. Although it promises a 1000-mile range instead of just 125 miles for electric vehicles, lithium air batteries have also been shown to be unstable. The big problem is that lithium ignites when it comes into contact with damp air. However, IBM researchers in California and Switzerland reported this month that they have solved an important problem in the battery's electrochemistry by finding a different kind of electrolyte solution. IBM hopes to have a prototype lithium-air battery by 2013. Startups such as Berkeley-based PolyPlus are also in search of this "holy grail" of battery technology. Critics say lithium-air research has been going on for two decades without complete success. Solid State Lithium-ion For electric cars, weight, range and safety are the major problems. One idea is to use solid state technology that does not have a liquid electrolyte solution for a lithium ion fuel cell. "It gives our cells greater energy density and also dramatically reduces system complexity," says Ann Marie Sastry, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Sakti3. The company's batteries pack more power in smaller space, said Sastry, a University of Michigan professor of materials science and technology. There is no flammable material either, something that recently plagued the Chevy Volt battery. GM and Khosla Ventures support Sakti3's research and development work. While in Japan, Toyota recently announced that its own solid state battery with a 600-mile range will be ready for roll-out sometime around 2015. Sodium Ion Pittsburgh-based Aquion Energy invests in simple, non-toxic materials for their grid storage battery systems. "It's made out of salt water, cotton, charcoal and dirt, actually lithium manganese oxide," said Ted Wiley, Aquion's vice president of business development. "All we're made of is cheap and cheap." Aquion builds storage cells in shipping-container size for solar, wind and other renewable energy producers who need to store the electricity they produce before selling it to the grid. It is a hybrid battery using the preservative sodium sulphate, and is based on research coming out of Carnegie Mellon University School of Engineering. This simple and cheap concept should also work to increase diesel generators in remote areas, said Wiley, or back up power supply in homes and businesses. Lithium Imide When Leyden Energy's Noam Kedem was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, he was struck by the fact that almost no one could talk on the phone after 3:00 p.m. "Everyone ran from charger to charger," Kedem said. To meet the demand for more power and longer life, Fremont, Calif.,-based Leyden uses a unique electrolyte salt solution with existing lithium ion technology. Kedem says it doubles the number of laptops or mobile battery charges from 350 cycles to more than 800. Kedem says that their batteries can also function up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit without producing hydrofluoric acid or the swelling that can occur when the batteries are heated when they run multiple applications. Doctor Canada. Battery retailers began selling Leyden's first rechargeable battery pack, and this year the company starts mass producing tablets and mobile phones. Kedem says the company is testing a prototype battery for electric cars with the same electrolyte platform. What do smart phones, electric cars and solar panels have in common? They all demand more and more battery power to keep our homes, jobs and vehicles running. Lithium ion is still the "gold standard", but researchers look at the entire periodic table for new combinations of elements that can lead and store electrons in smarter ways. And the faster they find it, the faster society can get rid of fossil fuels and use more sustainable energy sources. “With the combination of new materials, new design concepts and new production and manufacturing methods, I think we’ll get there,” said Esther Takeuchim, Professor of Advanced Power Systems at SUNY Buffalo, Here’s a look at five new battery technologies – some ready for the market in next year, others just above the horizon: Mushrooms never ceases to amaze. They are one of the strangest organisms on the planet, and we continue to come up with unexpected uses for them. In fact, some people believe that mushrooms do not come from this planet at all. Really. Now comes the bid that researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering, have found another use for fungi — in batteries. Magic Mushrooms In My Yard: Photos The research team for UC has developed a new type of lithium ion battery anode using portobello sponges, which could eventually replace the industrial standard for synthetic graphite. In addition to being cheaper and more environmentally friendly, the mushrooms are potentially also more efficient thanks to their highly porous composition. Developments can actually have quite a large impact in several sectors. We are likely to use much more batteries in the coming years, especially in consumer electronics and electric cars. By using biological materials, we can reduce costs and consume less energy in the manufacturing process. In contrast, synthetic graphite has a relatively high cost of production due to specific processing and purification processes that may also be harmful to the environment, according to the research group. Some mushrooms Glow, and here's why the fungus anodes porosity creates more space for energy transfer, which can improve battery performance. But even better, according to the UC team, fungal anodes can actually result in batteries that increase in efficiency over time, due to the high potassium salt content of the organic material. “With battery materials like this, future mobile phones can see an increase in driving time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within coal architectures such as cell charges and discharges over time,” says researcher Brennan Campbell in press material accompanying the announcement. Mushrooms are also generally more tasty than graphite. Everybody wins. The research results were published today in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. Structural characterization was performed on PM-CST using SEM, observing pyrolysis-induced morphological transformations on the micro- and nanoscale. From the micrographs of Fig. 2, one can see that the common microstructural property is nanoribbons, with a sometimes wrinkled appearance. They form an extremely thin, secondary electron translucent set of connected, branch bands with widths of about 10 μm, lengths of several tens of microns or longer, and a thickness of about 20–100 nm. An important structural difference that makes 700CSTs (Fig. 2a,b) distinct from 900CSTs (Fig. 2c,d) and 1100CSTs (Fig. 2e,f) is the presence of round salt pockets. These salt pockets are believed to form during heating, as water escapes and naturally present biological salts aggregates, both within the chitin-based organic, and on the surface. At temperatures above 900 °C, these salt pockets disappear, having exceeded the melting points of most occurring salts. It should also be noted that, especially in Fig. 2a,e, Nanoribbons form a network. There is also layering and/or pseudo-plying, as shown by Fig. 2c, showing a side view of the layered tape networks. Figure 2: Low to high magnification SEM of PM CST anodes heat-treated at 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d) and 1100 °C (e,f) (scale bars for (a–f), respectively: 100 μm, 10 μm, 50 μm, 10 μm, 100 μm and 10 μm. Full size image Observations were also made on higher-magnification SEM micrographs of the various PM CSTs. As mentioned, biological salts (mainly KCl) organize in pockets of varying size, and begin creating additional voids at 700 °C. However, the melting point of KCl is 770 °C, and above this temperature the salts escape the carbon structure more completely. As trapped in Fig. 3a,b, salt deposits are still present on the surface of the nanoribbons, with a wide diameter distribution (although some pores are still forming). The beginning of Fig. 3c,d, no surface salts or salt pockets exist, and instead there is a hierarchical porous texture. Pores that can be observed from SEM have diameters between 26 nm or higher, down to an observable 6 nm, which is the lowest function size that can be observed from the SEM images. From these data, it is confirmed that this material becomes mesoporous in pyrolysis, with pore sizes of 6–26 nm that can be observed by SEM. Images in Fig. 3e,f, representing the 1100CSTs, exhibits an even wider porosity range than the 900CSTs, with macropores of up to 100 nm in diameter. To confirm that there is porosity in the bulk of the nanoribbons, rather than on the surface alone, cross sections of the nanoribbons were captured during the SEM, as shown in Fig. 3d,f. In these images, the presence of pores is apparent throughout the thickness of the nanoribbons. Figure 3: Low to high magnification SEM showing the increasing porosity of PM CST nanoribbons as temperature increases, including heat-treated samples at 700 °C (a,b), 900 °C (c,d) and 1100 °C (e,f) (Scale bars for (a–f), respectively: 1 μm, 200 nm, 500 nm, 100 nm, 1 μm and 100 nm). Full size image Detailed analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also performed on the 1100CSTs, since they were both the highest performing anode material, exhibiting the highest apparent porosity from SEM. The microstructure seen in the lower-magnification images (Fig. 4a,b) is consistent with what is seen in SEM, which is a thin, very mesoporous nanoribbon architecture. The range of pore size is confirmed from Fig. 4b,d,f identify macropores and mesopores. Noteworthy is that the TEM analysis also confirms the presence of worm- or duct-shaped micropores, as observed in Fig. 4f. The low thickness of the strap is observed by the transparency of the structure in Fig. 4a, where the pointed carbon from the TEM network is visible during the test. The general form of the meso and macropores in the nanoribbons is circular, information supporting the idea of salt pocket formation, and subsequent melting induces this type of void generation. On the other hand, it is hypothesized that the worm-like micropores caught in Fig. 4f is generated by an activation-like process. N 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms show a long, flat plateau for adsorption and desorption, and a significant hysteresis (a property of mesoporous and/or microporous carbon). The BET surface was measured at 19.6 m2/g, which is a discrepancy in relation to isotherm and TEM data; this points to the prevalence of ‘blind’ or inaccessible pores formed in the 1100CSTs, which then become accessible after deep cycling. In addition, our leading hypothesis is that oxygenated organic substances (polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, amino acids, DNA), combined with the unusually high K concentration, can lead to carbonate formation, and subsequent CO2 generation; this is the basis for chemical activation, or a similar mechanism. Figure 4: TEM of untouched PM 1100CST hierarchically porous nanodiscs, showing macroporosity (a,b), mesoporosity (c,d) and worm-like microporosity (e,f). Full size image The phenomenon of small biological salt pockets that cause voids of different sizes, from macroporous to microporous domains, leads us to suggest that high PT-pyrolyzed PM CSTs are itself a self-activating material, through a complex set of mechanisms. It is very beneficial to have a material that can naturally be prepared for optimal performance by simply applying heat treatment. At PT of 1100 °C macropores are formed, facilitating electrolyte infiltration and thus electrolytic interaction with high surface carbon (shown to be higher capacity than graphite, gravimetric)7. Mesoporous carbon has been shown to work with excellent stability over long cycling in literature8, but hard chemical methods are required to achieve such performance. Hierarchic porous carbon, also achieved by many activation methods, tends to improve the ioniffusion rate, and expose additional active material to reversible capacity increase9,10. Spectral data were obtained from PM-CST after PT of 700–1100 °C to analyze elemental composition by point-ID energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and phase information using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) of the standalone anodes. From Fig. 5a, XRD patterns show the transition from large KCl peaks for 700CST (blue), to 1100CST (black) without visible peaks of crystalline inorganic substances. The current model of KOH activation is displayed in Eqn. (1) and (2). At temperatures above 400 °C; (1) occurs and exceeds 700 °C Eqn. (2) occur (gasification of CO2 occurs throughout this process)10. Further K 2 O from Eqn. (2) continue to be reduced by carbon to metallic K at a temperature above 700 °C. A physical activator then occurs, when metallic K diffuses to coal, and expands the lattice10. Given the classical chemical and physical models of KOH activation, it is likely that the biological salts present in the particle are suitable precursors for similar activation mechanisms. With salt deposits of various sizes consisting of KCl, and likely a variety of carbonates and phosphates, PM is an ideal self-activating carbon precursor for PT over 900 °C. Figure 5: Spectral data for the unspoiled, standalone PM-CST at different PTs, including XRD (a) and point ID EDS (b). Previous Previous post: Porous structure of pore table mushrooms is key to making efficient batteries that can power mobile phones and electric vehicles RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Can pore table mushrooms stop cell phone batteries from being destroyed over time? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering consider it. They have created a new type of lithium ion battery anode using portable sponges, which are cheap, environmentally friendly and easy to produce. The current industrial standard for rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes is synthetic graphite, which entails high manufacturing costs as it requires cumbersome purification and preparation processes that are also harmful to the environment. With the expected increase in batteries needed for electric vehicles and electronics, a cheaper and sustainable source is needed to replace graphite. The use of biomass, a biological material from living or newly living organisms, as a substitute for graphite, has recently been recognised due to its high carbon content, low cost and environmental sustainability. UC Riverside engineers were drawn to use fungi as a form of biomass because previous research has established that they are very porous, meaning they have a lot of small spaces for fluid or air to pass through. That porosity is important for batteries because it creates more space for storage and transmission of energy, a critical component to improve battery performance. In addition, the high potassium salt concentration in fungi allows increased electrolyte active material over time by activating more pores, gradually increasing its capacity. A conventional anode allows lithium to gain full access to most of the material during the first cycles and the capacity fades from electrode damage occurs from that point onwards. The fungus's carbon anode technique, with optimization, could replace graphite anodes. It also provides a binderless and power collector free attitude to anode manufacturing. "With battery materials like this, future mobile phones can see an increase in running time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the coal architectures such as cell charges and discharges over time," said Brennan Campbell, a graduate student in materials science and technology program at UC Riverside. The research results were outlined in an article, "Bio-Derived, Binderless, Hierarchic Porous Carbon Anodes for Li-ion Batteries", published today (Sept. 29) in Scientific Reports magazine. It was written by Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan, both professors of Bourns College of Engineering, and three of their current or former graduate students: Campbell, Robert Ionescu and Zachary Favors. Nanocarbon architectures derived from biological materials such as fungi can be considered a green and sustainable alternative to graphite-based anodes," says Cengiz Ozkan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The nano-ribbon-like architectures are converted during heat treatment into an interconnected porous network architecture that is important for battery electrodes because such architectures have a very large space for energy storage, a critical component to improve battery performance. One of the problems with conventional carbon, such as graphite, is that they are usually prepared with chemicals such as acids and activated by bases that are not environmentally friendly," says Mihri Ozkan, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Therefore, the UC Riverside team focuses on naturally derived carbon, such as the skin of the lids of portable sponges, to manufacture batteries. It is estimated that almost 900,000 tonnes of natural raw graphite would be needed for anode production for nearly six million electric vehicles as the forecast will be built by 2020. This requires that the graphite be treated with hard chemicals, including hydrofluoric acid and sulphuric acid, a process that creates large amounts of hazardous waste. The European Union plans that this process will become unsustainable in the future. Ozkan's research is supported by the University of California, Riverside. This article on mushrooms is published just over a year after Ozkan's lab developed a lithium ion battery anode based on nanosilicon via beach sand as the natural raw material. Ozkan's team is currently working on the development of bag prototypes based on nanokiselanodes. The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed patents for the inventions above. A summary of this is?
– Det händer inte än, men en ny vetenskaplig artikel visar att det är möjligt, och kanske till och med fördelaktigt, att tillverka batterier av organiska biologiska material som har den extra fördelen att vara billiga, miljövänliga och lätta att producera, rapporterar CNET. Ingenjörer vid University of California, Riverside, rapporterar i tidskriften Scientific Reports att de har utvecklat en ny typ av litiumjonbatterianod som använder portobellosvampar, som visar sig vara så effektiva (tack vare sin poröshet) att de till och med skulle kunna ersätta industristandarden för syntetisk grafit. Utvecklingen kan påverka flera industrier, rapporterar Discovery, som konstaterar att biologiska material kan göra det möjligt för oss att sänka kostnaderna och förbruka mindre energi i tillverkningen, medan syntetisk grafit kräver specifika berednings- och reningsprocesser som inte bara är dyrare utan mindre miljövänliga. Svampen kol anod teknik skulle i slutändan kunna ersätta grafit anoder, rapporterar teamet i ett pressmeddelande: "Med batterimaterial som detta, framtida mobiltelefoner kan se en ökning i körtid efter många användningar, snarare än en minskning, på grund av skenbar aktivering av blinda porer inom kol arkitekturer som cellladdningar och utsläpp över tiden," säger en forskare. (Kolla varför en del svampar lyser i mörkret.)
“It’s not happening yet, but a new scientific article shows that it is possible, and perhaps even beneficial, to manufacture batteries from organic biological materials that have the added advantage of being cheap, environmentally friendly and easy to produce,” CNET reports. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside, report in Scientific Reports magazine that they have developed a new type of lithium ion battery anode using portobello mushrooms, which prove to be so effective (due to their porousness) that they could even replace the industrial standard for synthetic graphite. Development may affect several industries, reports Discovery, who notes that biological materials can enable us to reduce costs and consume less energy in manufacturing, while synthetic graphite requires specific processing and purification processes that are not only more expensive but less environmentally friendly. The fungus carbon anode technology could ultimately replace graphite anodes, the team reports in a press release: "With battery materials like this, future mobile phones can see an increase in running time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within carbon architectures such as cell charges and emissions over time," says one researcher. (Check out why some mushrooms shine in the dark.)