Lithium-ion batteries are already close to the 20-hour life promised back in 2007 for laptops, but Lithium-sulphur batteries being worked on at Stanford University may improve battery life by 300 per cent. More

Longer battery life is high atop our list of gadget prayers , and the brainiacs at Stanford are one step closer to making our dreams come true with a new lithium-sulfur technology. Half of this trick lies in the silicon nanowire anode that the same team developed back in 2007, whereas the new cathode consists of a similarly commodious lithium sulfide nanostructure. Compared to present lithium-ion batteries, Stanford’s design is ” significantly safer ” and currently achieves 80 percent more capacity, but it’s nowhere near commercial launch with just 40 to 50 charge cycles (Li-ion does “300 to 500″) due to the compound’s rapid degradation. That said, we’re promised a theoretical quadruple boost in capacity as the technology matures, so until then we’ll keep that hamster running in our backpack .

Whoa, Nelly! Isn’t this something? Apple has just posted details on its iPad battery replacement service, which is really not a battery replacement service at all. Check out the company’s opening line: “If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee.” Now, let’s compare that to the verbiage found in the iPhone’s battery replacement program details: “If your iPhone requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will service your iPhone for a service fee.” We can see the puzzled look on your face from here, and we’re sharing in the same disbelief. Apple is actually saying that it won’t bother cracking open your withered iPad, replacing the battery and sending it back your way; instead, you’ll pay $105.95 (including shipping) for a completely different iPad, which certainly has its pros and cons.

Huzzah! Yet another discovery for us to add to our ever-expanding list of “awesome things that’ll never actually happen!” Ibrahim Abou Hamad and colleagues from Mississippi State University have reportedly devised a method of charging batteries that could hasten the process rather significantly, and better still, it could provide “an increase in battery power densities” as well. The only problem? Lithium-ion batteries have been disappointing tech users for years, and so long as Energizer and Duracell are calling the shots, we kind of doubt a lot will be done to improve the longevity of ‘em. Skepticism aside, the new method involves some fancy black magic surrounding molecular dynamics simulations, and researchers have found a way to boost charging time by “simulating the intercalation of lithium ions into the battery’s graphite anode.” We know we just went way over your heads on a Friday afternoon, but if techobabble’s your thing, all you can handle is right there in the Source link. Scientists discover method for rapid charging Li-ion batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:19:00 EST

If you’re a gadget fan (and let’s face it: you are) then there’s simply no excuse for using disposable batteries. Environmental concerns aside, rechargeables have advanced such that it just makes economic sense to switch. We’ve been unapologetic fans of Sanyo’s Eneloop series of Ni-MH batteries for years. Hell, we like any modern rechargeable that’s sold fully charged and is capable of maintaining that state even after years inside the family junk drawer. Today, Sanyo is announcing its Eneloop lite series scheduled for a June 22nd launch in Japan with a global release set for sometime later

In Nokia’s own words, what we’re looking at is a “piezoelectric kinetic energy harvester.” Working along the same principles as kinetic wristwatches have done for a long time already, Nokia’s idea is to capture the energy generated by the phone’s movements and to refashion it into beautiful, clean-as-a-whistle electric power. By allowing the heavier internal components to move on rails within the phone as part of a “force-transferring assembly,” the Espoo think tank has figured out a way to capitalize on all the small forces of acceleration and rotation that we subject our phones to on a daily basis. It would seem overly ambitious to expect this to replace the trusty old charger, but we give credit to Nokia for even thinking about it. Check out some schematics of how this would work after the break.

Looks like someone else out there thinks that non-removable batteries are seriously uncool. Olive Telecommunications’ FrvrOn V-G2300 is a GSM phone with a 1.5-inch color display display and an FM radio — small potatoes, right? That is, until you take into account the fact that it’s dual-powered: not only does it pack a rechargeable Li-ion battery, but should that run out you can get an additional hour’s worth of talk time from any standard AAA battery. Indeed, this is a pretty sweet deal if you’re living / traveling in an area without consistent power. Throw in a decent price point ($37) and we’re guessing this would do pretty well in Madhya Pradesh

There’s no way to verify this except to test it, but Solar Components claims their Joos Orange charger has somewhere between six to twenty times as much “3G cell phone talk time per hours of sun” than their competitors. This is where we’re confused though. Their chart shows that they have 120 minutes of talk time per hour of sun, but rate competitors at just 20 minutes of talk time per hour of sun. However, on their tech specs sheet, they say that they can “make more powe than any other personal solar charger on the market. Up to 20 times more.” Or, if you use their reflector kit, which brings in more sun, you can get 30 times more.

After all the talk of Flash Player 10.1 and what it does to gadgets’ battery lives, the folks at FlashMobileBlog decided to take the old-fashioned approach to finding out how the Google Nexus is affected: Playing a lot of videos. They found that “video can be played for well over 3 hours over Wi-Fi from YouTube in H.264 (Baseline 1.2).” One’s gotta wonder whether this is acceptable battery consumption or not, but the big idea is that we can extend that time by playing with configurations (backlight, Wi-Fi vs 3G, etc) and encouraging the availability of optimized content. You can read more about what content providers can do to optimize content and about the various configurations tested by FlashMobileBlog at their site. [ FlashMobileBlog via Carolyn Penner ]

How do you build a safer battery? By doing horrible things to it. At Sandia National Laboratories , lithium-ion batteries—the kind that are inside your laptop and cars—are pulverized, overcharged and just plain exploded . The idea’s to find faults in the batteries so battery makers can fix them. What’s depressing is that the lab’s underfunded and apparently still looks like it’s out of the Cold War, with ancient equipment and tinfoil wrapped around lines for safety. This is even as the lab has alerted battery makers to the kinds of serious problems that cause batteries to you know, explode —leading the industry to create backup systems like mechanical circuit breakers when batteries get too hot.