Gold nanowire batteries has the potential to replace current batteries as they can last longer and can withand 200,000 charges and shows no sign of tear and wear.
This research was discovered at University Of California Irvine by a team of people where their initial plan is to create a solid-state battery: one that uses electrolyte gel to replace liquid, which can be found in primary (non rechargable) and secondary cell (rechargable) batteries. (Hill et a.l, 2018). Liquid batteries, like common lithium variety are extremely combustile and sensitive to temperature. Lithium corrodes the battery and affect the ability to hold a charge.
“We started to cycle the devices, and then realized that they weren’t going to die,”
-Reginald Penner, the leader author of the paper
This experiment was discovered accidentally. Even they themselves doesn’t understand how the mechanism work.
“We don’t understand the mechanism of that yet”
-Reginald Penner, the leader author of the paper
How it works?
Credit: Popular Sience
The left picture shows nanowires without electrolyte gel, corrodes after 4,000 cycles of charges. The right picture shows nanowires with electrolyte gel applied, shows little sign of corrodes after 100,000 cycles of charges
Irvine battery technology team uses gold nanowire with metal oxide coating and layer of electrolyte gel protected. And they found out that the gel prevent the metal oxide coating from corrosion, and the longer the wire, the more charges it can holds. (Gershgorn, 2016)
Market
15% of the global’s gold demand is for industrial use and is woth $15.6 billion annually (“Special Report: Lead, Lithium, and Gold: Top Energy Storage Investments of Tomorrow,” n.d.).
Where is the product heading?
Credit: Youtube
Conclusion
This is perhaps a great technology for the future! It can change how our gadgets become more durable and save the environment by preventing battery getting dumped and changed frequently. But this technology has an issue, which is the resource: gold. The article mentioned the technology requires gold, definitely not an affordable resource for everyone. But most importantly, the Irvine teams doesn’t know how this mechanism works, which means this technology needs more research.
Reference:
- Flanders, K (2016) Growing gold: Researchers develop gold nanowires for biomedical procedures. Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2016-10-gold-nanowires-biomedical-procedures.html
- Gershgorn, D (2016). Researchers Accidentally Make Batteries Last 400 Times Longer. Retrieved from https://www.popsci.com/researchers-accidentally-make-batteries-last-400-times-longer
- Hill, Marquita K., Watts, John., Wastebusters., Danaher, Kevin., Biggs, Shannon., Mark, Jason (2018). Primary cell. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_cell
- Special Report: Lead, Lithium, and Gold: Top Energy Storage Investments of Tomorrow. Retrieved from https://www.energyandcapital.com/report/lead-lithium-and-gold-top-energy-storage-investments-of-tomorrow/563