• gretar4
• Chicago News , Medical News , Nanotech , Science And Physics , Tech News , Uncategorized
• December 19, 2024
• 136 views

Humans Are Still Dreaming of Clean Energy. Carbon Nanotubes May Be the Turning Point.

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.” Large swaths of the technology industry—whether they make smartphones, renewable energy storage, or electric vehicles—owe a pretty big debt of gratitude to the creation of the lithium-ion battery. Without it, the modern information age would’ve been severely curtailed in its ability to go mobile and store an impressive amount of energy on the go. But, as is true with all technologies, what was once cutting edge eventually wears out its welcome. And lithium-ion batteries are tiptoeing into this category. Of course, lithium-ion batteries remain immensely important—lithium is even often referred to as “white gold”—but scientists are realizing that some kind of replacement is likely necessary if we want to achieve our clean energy dreams. Lithium-ion batteries don’t work well in extreme temperatures on either end of the scale and have a non-zero chance of exploding (search “Tesla on fire” and you’ll get the picture), and lithium extraction has devastating consequences on the environment and human health. These issues and others like them have led experts to propose things like iron-air batteries, proton batteries, and sodium batteries as possible replacements (or supplements) for humanity’s pervasive use of lithium. Now, a new battery is entering the chat—carbon nanotubes. A new study from an international team of scientists revealed that twisted coils of carbon nanotubes—with each thread being only one-atom thick (also known as single-walled)—could store 15,000 times more energy than steel springs and three times more energy per unit mass than lithium.…