ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → Physics

World’s smallest battery created with a nanowire

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
December 11, 2010
in Physics, Research
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

RelatedPosts

Samsung almost doubled the capacity of lithium-ion batteries by adding graphene
What an overheated Lithium-ion battery looks like, inside and out
New Aluminum-ion battery fully charges in under a minute – 100 times faster than your laptop
Soft, squishy and powerful: The Royal Institute of Technology creates batteries from trees

A team led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jianyu Huang created the smallest battery in the world, with a single nanowire 7000 times thinner than a human hair as an anode. The battery was formed inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) to allow researchers to better understand the anode’s characteristics.

“This experiment enables us to study the charging and discharging of a battery in real time and at atomic scale resolution, thus enlarging our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms by which batteries work.”, says Huang.

Nanowire technology used in lithium based batteries could offer significant improvements in power and energy density, ultimately leading to a whole new generation of hybrids, laptops, mobile phones, etc.

“What motivated our work,” says Huang, “is that lithium ion batteries [LIB] have very important applications, but the low energy and power densities of current LIBs cannot meet the demand. To improve performance, we wanted to understand LIBs from the bottom up, and we thought in-situ TEM could bring new insights to the problem.”

Battery research groups often use nanomaterials as anodes, but they use them in bulk rather than individually, a process elegantly defined by Huang as “looking at a forest and trying to understand the behavior of an individual tree”. The nanobattery created by the researchers practically consists of a tin oxide nanowire anode 100 nanometers thick and 10 micrometers long a bulk lithium cobalt oxide cathode three millimeters long, and an ionic liquid electrolyte; it’s pretty much the most basic battery you can build. The work can also be conducted with other kind of materials for anode or cathode studies.

“The methodology that we developed should stimulate extensive real-time studies of the microscopic processes in batteries and lead to a more complete understanding of the mechanisms governing battery performance and reliability,” he said. “Our experiments also lay a foundation for in-situ studies of electrochemical reactions, and will have broad impact in energy storage, corrosion, electrodeposition and general chemical synthesis research field.”

Tags: batterylithium batterynanobatterynanomaterialsnanotube

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

An image of the 3D printed nano lattice (left) and a cell of the lattice resting on a bubble (right)
Materials

This Tiny 3D Printed Material is as Strong as Steel but as Light as Styrofoam

byRupendra Brahambhatt
4 weeks ago
Future

This Stretchy Battery Still Works After Being Twisted, Punctured, and Cut in Half

byTibi Puiu
1 month ago
Future

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Battery Life Killer and the Fix Is Shockingly Simple

byTibi Puiu
2 months ago
Future

This Tiny Nuclear Battery Could Last for Thousands of Years Without Charging

byTibi Puiu
2 months ago

Recent news

A Hawk in New Jersey Figured Out Traffic Signals and Used Them to Hunt

May 23, 2025

Anthropic’s new AI model (Claude) will scheme and even blackmail to avoid getting shut down

May 23, 2025

Researchers create contact lenses that let you see in the dark, even with your eyes closed

May 23, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.