Video: Smallest Li-Ion Battery Ever Created Swells and Contorts While Charging
Findings could lead to better batteries By building the tiniest functional lithium-ion battery ever, researchers at Sandia National Laboratory have explained why these power sources are so short-lived: their parts engage in an atomic-scale contortion act that leaves them weakened and susceptible to damage. So next time you throw out (and hopefully recycle) a pair of lithium batteries, show some respect for the deformations it suffered while powering your camera. The itty-bitty battery provided an unprecedented view of the charging process, as scientists watched it writhe and swell as ions flow in. The work, published today in the journal Science, illuminates how rechargeable batteries die and could lead to better, longer-lasting alternatives. You can only recharge and reuse lithium batteries for so long before they lose capacity and fail, because the continual charging cycle damages the electrodes. The new nanometer-scale images show just how this happens - it turns out the electrodes fatten...