Nanowire batteries

Enable IPC is now working on a battery that will utilize wires that are 1000 times smaller than a human hair. The fact that these wires are small is essential to this new technology. These wires allow for less waste and greater efficiency. The energy produced by a battery is determined by the amount of mass of the cathode (more cathode material, more atoms means more electrons available to produce energy). A typical battery consists of a cathode (+) and an anode (-) and a electrolyte, power is created by the electron flow from the cathode (+) to the anode (-), then out through an external circuit.

The surface area of the cathode material is the opening that these electrons use to get to the anode area of the battery. Nanowires, due to their small size greatly increase the surface area of the cathode material and allow for more power to be released. The anodes in conventional batteries are made from carbon. The nanowires made from silicon have a capacity to absorb ten times more energy than carbon. Silicon is a material that changes little at the nanoscale level.

One approach to creating nanowires is to use a CVD (Chemical vapor deposition), a group of processes where solids are formed from gas. Catalysts are deposited on a base, called a substrate. The substrate is placed in a gas chamber with silicon, the atoms in the gas attach to the catalyst atoms, which creates a chain. This chain of atoms is the nanowire.


The advantages of this technology will create batteries with increased life expectancy and safer environmental effects. These improvements are expected to improve the performance of batteries in iPods, laptops, digital and video cameras and other electronic devices.
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