ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2009) — In excess of seven million barrels of gasoline are consumed by vehicles in the United States every day. As scientists race to find environmentally sound solutions to fuel the world's ever-growing transportation needs, battery researchers are exploring the promise of lithium-air battery technology. 

Li-air batteries use a catalytic air cathode that supplies oxygen, an electrolyte and a lithium anode. The technology has the potential to store almost as much energy as a tank of gasoline, and will have a capacity for energy storage that is five to 10 times greater than that of Li-ion batteries, a bridge technology. That potential, however, will not be realized until critical scientific challenges have been solved.

Researchers at the U. S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are leveraging their broad and deep understanding of safe, high-energy and long-life Li-ion battery development to leap the high hurdles required for the development of commercially viable Li-air batteries.

"The obstacles to Li-air batteries becoming a viable technology are formidable and will require innovations in materials science, chemistry and engineering," said Argonne Director Eric Isaacs. "We have a history of taking on scientific challenges and overcoming them. Argonne is committed to developing Li-air battery technologies. In fact, we've made it a 'grand research challenge' at the laboratory."

Argonne has researched a variety of battery technologies during the last four decades, and in the process has built a deep well of scientific and engineering expertise. As a result, the lab has become a leader in the development of new materials for advanced batteries, including Li-ion batteries.

"This is not a near-term technology," added Jeff Chamberlain, Senior Account Manager in Argonne's Office of Technology Transfer. "It is going to take time and collaborations across several scientific disciplines to address the four main challenges of this battery development effort: safety, cost, life and performance."

To accomplish this task, Argonne's research will continue to span basic, applied and theoretical sciences and will leverage the lab's world-class research facilities -- the Advanced Photon Source, the Center for Nanoscale Materials and Argonne's Leadership Computing Facility.

While the potential of Li-air batteries is great, the research to get there will take time and involve working with industry, which will eventually adopt the technology for commercial application.

Argonne has worked with several industrial partners on the commercialization of Li-ion batteries and battery materials, including companies such as EnerDel, Envia, BASF and Toda America. The lab is working with the Commonwealth of Kentucky to develop the Kentucky-Argonne National Battery Manufacturing Center, which will support the development of a viable U.S. battery manufacturing industry. And more recently, DOE awarded the lab $8.8 million to build out and outfit three battery research facilities that will be used for battery prototyping, materials production scale-up and post-test analysis.

Developer Daizi Zheng's ecologically-friendly battery uses soda to power her mobile phone, rather than harmful lithium-based batteries.

"The concept is using bio battery ... to create a pollution-free environment," Zheng told Sky News.

"By using bio battery as the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water and oxygen while the battery dies out," she said.

Zheng explained that a sugar-powered phone has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional batteries and could be fully biodegradable.

She designed the power cell as a client project for Nokia.

"At the time they wanted something to bring out within the next two years and thought my design was too futuristic," she said.

Everyone wants to keep a longer lifespan for their iPhone batteries. But how could you do it?

Engineers Double Life of Alkaline Batteries by packing batteries with twice as much energy-storing material, engineers have developed a new generation of alkaline batteries that can double the battery life of your MP3 players, digital cameras, and other gadgets. The new batteries also produce a higher voltage -- so flashlights shine brighter, and camera flashes recover quicker.

A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be charged in just seconds.

When Apple launched the iPhone 3GS a few months ago, the company claimed better battery life next to the speed improvements the new device was bringing. But an increasing number of users are reporting on Apple's support forums and across the Internet that the iPhone 3GS's battery is not living up to their expectations.

As far as battery maintenance goes, I’m the worst ever. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve needed to jump on my laptop, use my mobile phone or any other portable electronic device, only to find myself in the unenviable position of having no juice left on the battery. Simply put, I overuse, poorly maintain, and all in all just wear down all of the batteries I need like it’s going out of style.