New Lithium-Air Battery Technology

New Battery Technology with Higher Energy Density than Any Existing Battery

Lightweight batteries that can deliver lots of energy are crucial for a variety of applications - for example, improving the range of electric cars. For that reason, even modest increases in a battery's energy-density rating - a measure of the amount of energy that can be delivered for a given weight - are important advances. Now a team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists. Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu holds an experimental lithium-air battery that was used for testing at MIT. Photo: Patrick Gillooly Yang Shao-Horn, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, says that many groups have been pursuing work on lithium-air batteries, a technology that has great potential for achieving great gains in energy density. But there has been a lack of understanding of what kinds of electrode materials could promote the electrochemical reactions that take place in these batteries. Lithium-oxygen (also known as lithium-air) batteries are similar in principle to the lithium-ion batteries that now dominate the field of portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric vehicles. But because lithium-air batteries use lightweight porous carbon electrodes and oxygen drawn from a flow of air to take the place of heavy solid compounds used in lithium-ion batteries, the batteries themselves can be much lighter. That's why leading companies, including IBM and General Motors, have committed to major research initiatives on lithium-air technology. In a paper published this week in the journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Shao-Horn, along with some of her students and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger, reported on a study showing that electrodes with gold or platinum as a catalyst show a much higher level of activity and thus a higher efficiency than simple carbon electrodes in these batteries. In addition, this new work sets the stage for further research that could lead to even better electrode materials, perhaps alloys of gold and platinum or other metals, or metallic oxides, and to less expensive alternatives. Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu, lead author of the paper, explains that this team has developed a method for analyzing the activity of different catalysts in the batteries, and now they can build on this research to study a variety of possible materials. "We'll look at different materials, and look at the trends," she says. "Such research could allow us to identify the physical parameters that govern the catalyst activity. Ultimately, we will be able to predict the catalyst behaviors. " One issue to be dealt with in developing a battery system that could be widely commercialized is safety. Lithium in metallic form, which is used in lithium-air batteries, is highly reactive in the presence of even minuscule amounts of water. This is not an issue in current lithium-ion batteries because carbon-based materials are used for the negative electrode. Shao-Horn says the same battery principle can be applied without the need to use metallic lithium; graphite or some other more stable negative electrode materials could be used instead, she says, leading to a safer system. A number of issues must be addressed before lithium-air batteries can become a practical commercial product, she says. The biggest issue is developing a system that keeps its power through a sufficient number of charging and discharging cycles for it to be useful in vehicles or electronic devices. Researchers also need to look into details of the chemistry of the charging and discharging processes, to see what compounds are produced and where, and how they react with other compounds in the system. "We're at the very beginning" of understanding exactly how these reactions occur, Shao-Horn says. Gholam-Abbas Nazri, a researcher at the GM Research & Development Center in Michigan, calls this research "interesting and important," and says this addresses a significant bottleneck in the development of this technology: the need find an efficient catalyst. This work is "in the right direction for further understanding of the role of catalysts," and it "may significantly contribute to the further understanding and future development of lithium-air systems," he says. While some companies working on lithium-air batteries have said they see it as a 10-year development program, Shao-Horn says it is too early to predict how long it may take to reach commercialization. "It's a very promising area, but there are many science and engineering challenges to be overcome," she says. "If it truly demonstrates two to three times the energy density" of today's lithium-ion batteries, she says, the likely first applications will be in portable electronics such as computers and cell phones, which are high-value items, and only later would be applied to vehicles once the costs are reduced.

Coming Soon: Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging

Looks like we released our electric vehicle charger slideshow just a little bit too soon. Autobloggreen reports that a wireless charge station may be released sometime in the next few years courtesy of Evatran, a mysterious startup with the tagline "Energy without limits."

Evatran's Plugless Power charging station, unveiled this week at the Plug-In 2010 Conference, consists of a a permanently mounted car adapter along with a fixed parking block and control tower. An adopter-equipped vehicle need only pull up to the parking space, and the parking block automatically begins charging. Evatran explains the technology behind the station:

Plugless Power electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) connects the on-board EV battery charger inductively to the electrical power source. Simply put, the two halves of the electric transformer are separated--one installed on the vehicle and one installed on the floor of a garage or parking space. When the two pieces are brought together, electrical current flowing in the parking block from the electrical grid causes current to flow into the vehicle adapter, thereby charging the battery. With the Plugless Power dual-component EVSE, current flows from one source to another without using a plug and a cord, enabling "hands-free" charging.

It all sounds plausible enough, but the technology isn't quite ready for prime time yet. The first version of Evatran's charger, set to be released this December, uses a cord. Evatran hopes to have a wireless version ready in April 2011, at which point customers who have shelled out the $3,000 for the cord charger can upgrade for another $800.

There's just one problem: the Plugless Power station doesn't always work. According to Evatran, the charger will be about 90% effective, which means that the other 10% of energy released is wasted. Still, it's a start. And just imagine how much easier EV charging will be when we don't have to think about it.

The Most Beautiful Sexy Robots

A gynoid is a humanoid robot designed to look like a human female, as compared to an android modeled after a male. The term gynoid was coined by Gwyneth Jones in her 1985 novel Divine Endurance to describe a robot slave character in a futuristic China, that is judged by her beauty. The term is not common, however, with the masculine term android being commonly used to refer to both “genders” of robot. The word fembot (female robot) has also been used. Gynoids have also been used as a metaphor in feminist discourse, as part of cyborg feminism, representing female physical strength and freedom from the expectation to reproduce.

Female-appearing robots have also appeared in real-life, with early constructions being crude. The first gynoid was produced by one British company, for use as a “pleasuring-aid”. It was called simply “36C”, from her chest measurement, and had a 16-bit microprocessor and voice synthesiser that allowed primitive responses to speech and push button inputs. Female-appearing robots have also generated controversy. In 1983 a “busty female robot” was removed from a display at Berkeley college after a petition was presented claiming it was insulting to women. The robot’s creator called this “censorship” by the “feminist movement” and akin to book burning.

The fetishization of gynoids in real life has been attributed to male desires for custom-made passive women, and has been compared to life-size female dolls. The reaction of people to robots that appeared female to different degrees has been studied. The reaction of people to such robots has been attributed in part to gender stereotypes. This research has been used to elucidate gender cues, clarifying which behaviours and aesthetics elicit a stronger gender-induced response.

Artificial women have been a common trope in fiction and mythology since the writings of the ancient Greeks. This has continued with modern fiction, particularly in the genre of science fiction. In science fiction, female-appearing robots are often produced for use as domestic servants and  slaves, as seen in the film Westworld, the Paul McAuley novel Fairyland (1995), and the Lester del Ray short story Helen O’Loy (1938) as opposed to male-appearing robots who are traditionally warriors, killers, or laborors.

A long tradition exists in fiction, of men attempting to create the stereotypical ideal woman, and fictional gynoids have been seen as an extension of this theme. Examples include Hephaestus in the Iliad who created female servants of metal and Ilmarinen in the Kalevala who created an artificial wife. Probably most famous, however, is Pygmalion, one of the earliest conceptualizations of constructions similar to gynoids in literary history, from Ovid’s account of Pygmalion. In this myth a female statue is sculpted that is so beautiful that the creator falls in love with it, and after praying to Venus, the goddess takes pity on him and converts the statue into a real woman with whom Pygmalion has children.

Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforce essentialist ideas of femininity, according to Magret Grebowicz. Such essentialist ideas may present as  gender stereotypes. Among the few non-eroticized fictional gynoids include Rosie the Robot Maid from The Jetsons. However, she still has some stereotypically feminine qualities, such as a matronly shape and a predisposition to cry.

The stereotypical role of wifedom has also been explored through use of gynoids. In The Stepford Wives, husbands are shown as desiring to restrict the independence of their wives, and obedient and stereotypical spouses are preferred. The husbands’ technological method of obtaining this “perfect wife” is through the murder of their human wives and replacement with gynoid substitutes that are compliant and housework obsessed, resulting in a “picture-postcard” perfect suburban society. This has been seen as an allegory of male chauvinism of the period, by representing marriage as a master-slave relationship, and an attempt at raising feminist consciousness during the era of second wave feminism.

In a parody of the fembots from The Bionic Woman, attractive fembots in fuzzy see-through night-gowns were used as a lure for the fictional agent Austin Powers in the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. The film’s sequels had cameo appearances of characters revealed as fembots. Judith Halberstam writes that these gynoids inform the viewer that femaleness does not indicate naturalness, and their exaggerated femininity  is used in a similar way to the title character’s exaggerated masculinity, lampooning stereotypes.

Hyundai’s Car For Family In 2020

Hyundai shows its concept car scheduled to be launched in 2020. Hyundai and Nicolas Stone coming up with a new car concept and people will start again call it a family car.

This car will not need any kind of fuel to generate the energy. Only water and sun will be enough to run this just like plant need. Exterior of this will have solar plate which will get the energy from sun.

This concept car is equipped with transparent solar cells to generate electricity from ambient light, which is afterwords used to carry out electrolysis of water finally generating hydrogen, which fuels the car.

The only by-product of the car engine will be clean potable water and breathable oxygen. Utilizing a new energy model, the vehicle uses the electricity to stimulate a central water tank, splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen gets stored in special reserve tanks, while the oxygen gets expelled into the air as exhaust. So, no emissions, since this cute little car functions exactly like a plant, being powered by an artificial system of photosynthesis.

Urbee Hybrid is world’s first 3D printed car

Henry Ford revolutionized automobile relese Urbee Hybrid is world’s first 3D printed car.Urbee Hybrid run solely on renewable energy or get over 200 mpg at highway speeds.Urbee Hybrid car shows on 2010 SEMA car show in Las Vegas.This car is created using Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems…..

Minneapolis-based Stratasys Inc has announced that it is creating a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly vehicle named Urbee, which will be on display at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas from November 2 to 5.The maker of additive manufacturing machines for prototyping and producing plastic parts said it is partnering with Winnipeg engineering group Kor Ecologic to build the first-ever prototype car that will have its entire body 3D printed with an additive process.

Stratasys said all the various external components of the car including its glass panels have been created using Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems at its digital manufacturing service “RedEye on Demand”.With more and more automobile companies claiming to offer effective and sustainable solutions to reduce GHG emissions and thereby reduce the dependence on petroleum, the Urbee is likely to undergo close scrutiny and speculations. The various stages of the development of the car have already been chronicled by the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet for future broadcast.

The electric/liquid fuel hybrid delivers over 200 miles per gallon on the highway with an impressive 100 miles a gallon in the city. Also, the car can be charged overnight from any standard home electrical outlet. Alternate charging options include renewable energy from a windmill or a solar-panel array small enough to fit atop a single-car garage.For combined city and highway use, the Urbee gives about 150 miles per gallon, costing about 2 cents a mile, which is about 10 percent of the fuel consumed by a typical SUV.