Much thanks to CNN.com for the story...
"The researchers devised a process for generating electricity using nanotechnology. They plan to refine the process in hopes of creating a new environmentally friendly battery, among other products."
Think of it this way, our best batteries take up too much space to really make electric cars go as far as they should without gas. Even the best battery packs do not last long enough. Your cell phone might be outdated before your battery wears out, but think about it, the battery wouldn't have lasted much longer when you "upgrade" it anyways. Now, thanks to MIT, we may have a game changer...
"It works like this: Researchers used tiny wires, known as carbon nanotubes, to create a powerful wave of energy, according to Michael Strano, and MIT associate professor of chemical engineering. He is also the senior author of a paper on this new phenomenon, published in this week's Nature Materials journal."
New phenomenon...interesting.
"After coating these tiny wires with a layer of fuel, Strano said his team generated a so-called thermopower wave and stumbled across a reaction that may eventually be used to power electronics, computers and cell phones."This could lead to batteries that are up to 10 times smaller and still have the same power output. In the portable energy and energy conservation arena, we're trying to find power sources that have a smaller profile but hold more energy," Strano told CNN Radio.Strano said "some of the advantages of this technology [are] you can generate a lot of power from a very, very small device."
There are many applications which such a power source could be used for and I'm going to list a few here which could be extreme game changing things in the future.
1. Robots: we have all the sci-fi dreams in the world but there is no power source which makes true "free roaming" robotics a reality. Super small batteries with very high capacity could result in major changes with robotics. Imagine Honda's Asimo lasting days before having to switch battery packs. True in-home care from robotic house mates from automatons. Don't let anyone lie to you, this is one of the major hang-ups of present robotics and could be the game changer we all need to see the future come to pass.
2. Power suits: think "ironman" type of suits. Our field army guys no longer dying needlessly to I. E. D's because each one is equip'ed with a suit which controls not only a nice comfortable environment but boosts reaction time, strength, and perception of the environment. Master Chief anyone? Cool heads-up displays, surround sound hearing (beef up hearing), night vision done right. All brought about and made realized by a true lasting power supply. Such things are envisioned to change our world drastically and would create a super-power unlike anyone has seen...nukes are a thing to threaten with, an army with this type of tech would not only be a threat, but a viable option to offer real world peace keeping on a global scale. Instead of having to send in thousands of troops to do any given job a much reduced force would be capable of fulfilling a much greater role.
3. Satellite power for the globe. Huge (let me rephrase that) ENORMOUS power lies out in space just waiting for the team to develop the technology to direct it toward us. With the ability to run satellites for much longer periods of time with less space given over to batteries we could perhaps develop the tech needed to create solar farms in space. Such tech has been the ideas of dreamers for years. Imagine if we could trap not only the solar power given to the Earth but also all of the Sun's power given off around the orbit of the Earth. Broadcasting that power back to Earth and having the ability to store it in a meaningful way (new battery tech like described in this article). Taking control of the Sun's energy is important for mankind as a society, and is fundamental to us moving beyond our current economic and political situation. It is fundamental in our development up through a civilizational growth as defined by minds such as Sagan. First we learn to control the power falling on our planet and then we learn to control the Sun in total....and then we farm our solar system for the various metals and alloys to be found there.
4. True electric vehicles which not only make a family car feasible but instantly make trucking and major transportation like shipping use battery power instead of diesel engines to generate electricity. Imagine a world where the economic wealth shift is not due to where oil is located but where technology is located. We are very close to changing our world already. As soon as a viable plug-in hybrid type vehicle which can be used by major taxi industries around our globe comes into effect we will off-load our energy needs from oil to the power grid where it can be generated for less, with less pollution, and with better focus on conservation.
5. Health care systems which can take the place of human organs. We are at the cusp of a great breakthrough in human kind unlike ever before. I see a time when one of three things will be able to cure any human aliment.
One: DNA specific drugs. Your genome defined and used to make specific drugs to fit your specific disease treating and fixing the cause of it, not the symptoms.
Two: nanites. Small (exceptionally small) robots specifically built and programed to go into your bloodstream and fix something. A blocked artery, a failing valve in your heart, a stroke, a problem with clotting even...these small robots using the newest battery tech to store energy and your body's natural heat as a recharge source could perhaps find a way to change mankind into something we have never been before: healthy on a global scale.
Three: Genetically grown organs. We already have them. Look up "growing organs" and you'll be amazed to find we can already make you a new bladder from your own cells. Methods will come about to make artificial organs as well which can run on batteries smaller than ever before for longer periods between charging. Making many of the things which you must do as an out-patient (dialysis for example) something which can be implanted and work much like your original kidney did...putting the waste into your newly grown and implanted bladder for instance.
Game changers come around every so often and we are truly just waiting for the breakthrough tech which will condense the size of batteries to a level which will give us the power density to make our technology last long enough and have the resource storage to make many of the fantasies envisioned come to life.
"Batteries made from this new thermopower technology would be completely nontoxic, Strano said."The materials we use to make these thermopower waves are organic. They're not grown naturally, but they're made of carbon. In other words, you could essentially incinerate them, or they would degrade over time, there's no heavy metal residue," Strano said."
Isn't that nice, even if the thing leaks and/or is used on a global scale it is environment friendly. No longer risking sending batteries and other dangerous power sources into space on board rockets we simply use a power source which (in the event of a failure of the launch vehicle) is environmentally safe.
Again, MIT has a game changer in their hands and I salute them for it. It is about time because even if this doesn't pan out and isn't the game changer you can bet your ass that soon someone is going to make that breakthrough in power density that the world needs to move us into that next technological age. The problem of power density has held us back for way too long and it is about time that some form of game changing tech like that listed in this article comes to fruition and makes us as a society become what we can become as demonstrated in our sci-fi.
