Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.
They could store 15,000 times more energy than steel springs and three times more energy than lithium.
Lithium-ion is the king of portable energy, but many competing ideas that are cheaper and more efficient are aiming to dethrone its privileged position.
One of those ideas is carbon nanotubes - the wonder material stronger than steel that also happens to store three times more energy per unit mass than lithium.
According to the researchers behind a new study, this could make ropes of twisted single-walled carbon nanotubes particularly attractive for medical devices, as the wires could harvest energy from the body’s movements.
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. The authors published the results of the findings in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
To create these ropes of nanotubes, the researchers first crafted the threads from commercially available materials. Luckily for us, carbon nanotubes are relatively easy to manufacture and they’re 100 times stronger than steel. Once these atom-thick threads had been created, the researchers wove them into a “rope” and coated that rope with a number of substances to increase its strength and flexibility. Compared to lithium, these carbon nanotubes are also more robust with regards to extreme temperatures, and can operate from -76ºF (-60ºC) to 212°F (100°C).
Although carbon nanotubes likely won’t power your smartphone any time soon, the researchers think the technology could be a game-changer for health implants, as the batteries could harvest energy from the body’s movements to power wearables and implants.
“Humans have long stored energy in mechanical coil springs to power devices such as watches and toys,” Sanjeev Kumar Ujjain, a co-lead author of the study from the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s, said in a press statement. “This research shows twisted carbon nanotubes have great potential for mechanical energy storage.”
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