SCIENTISTS in California claim to have developed a rechargeable battery that provides more power, stores more energy and has a longer shelf life than any other. The key to the device is a new type of positive electrode, made of a plastic polymer, and layers of a gel and lithium. The result, say the inventors, is a solid-state battery that weighs about half as much as others of the same power.
Lutgard De Jonghe and Steven Visco, who work at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, say that the energy in their battery is stored in the polymer's disulphide bonds. When the bonds are broken, energy is released in the form of electrical current, and the polymer becomes a salt - a process known as depolymerisation. When the current is reversed, the disulphide bonds form again and the battery is recharged.
There have been batteries in the past that use polymers, but ...
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