graphene gives thomas edison's battery a new life - lithium iron battery
More than a century ago, the rechargeable battery technology developed by Thomas Edison had been upgraded by researchers at Stanford University.
The original nickel
At the beginning of the 20 th century, iron batteries powered electric vehicles.
But today, only a few companies use it, mainly to store the remaining power of solar panels and wind turbines.
The initial Edison battery charge takes a few hours, but the improved battery charges in a few minutes.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
The original battery consists of a cathode made of nickel and an anode made of iron immersed in an alkaline solution.
Carbon is usually used as a conductive element-
But to improve its performance, the Stanford team used graphene, a sheet of carbon with only one atom thick.
"In traditional electrodes, people randomly mix iron-nickel materials with conductive carbon," said Wang Hailiang, a Stanford graduate student at the study . ".
"Instead, we have grown iron oxide nanoparticles on graphene and nickel-hydrogen oxide nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes.
He added: "This approach has helped scientists to increase the charging speed of the battery by nearly 1,000 times.
The prototype battery is only powerful enough to operate the flashlight, but the team hopes that one day it will be used to power modern electric vehicles --
Or at least as a "power boost" source.
"I hope we can give nickel-
"The Iron battery has a new life," said Dai Hongjie, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University.
Mr. Wang said their batteries could replenish lithium.
Ion batteries currently used in many electric vehicles provide them with "real power boost for acceleration and regenerative braking ".
It can also be used for emergency situations when it needs to be charged very quickly.
Electric vehicles are not a new concept. They came out in the 19 th century.
Many of the batteries made in early 1900 were powered by Edison batteries, which were also used as backup batteries
Power supply for railways and mining.