Add boron for better batteries (material, chemistry, browser, website)

[Brian.Pearson]

HOUSTON – (May 16, 2013) – Frustration led to revelation when Rice University scientists determined how graphene might be made useful for high-capacity batteries.


Calculations by the Rice lab of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson found a graphene/boron anode should be able to hold a lot of lithium and perform at a proper voltage for use in lithium-ion batteries. The discovery appears in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.


The possibilities offered by graphene get clearer by the day as labs around the world grow and test the one-atom-thick form of carbon. Because it is as thin as possible, battery manufacturers hope to take advantage of graphene’s massive surface area to store lithium ions. Counting both sides of the material, one gram would cover 2,630 square meters, or nearly half a football field.

[harry chickpea]

A bit late to the party. I saved a link to an early version of this page back in 2000.

Boron: A Better Energy Carrier than Hydrogen? (28 February 2009)

The lack of response was just another example of entropy in the scientific world.

[Tek_Freek]

Harry, I'm confused. 2000 or 2009 as the article states? Either way I am always amazed at the "breakthrough" technologies that never go anywhere.

Maybe this time it will.

[harry chickpea]

The "current" page was labelled as 2009. There was an earlier page on that same website that covered much of the basics. I got the link, which was dated 5 September 2000, from an old bookmarks list from a browser I haven't used in years. IIRC, the original page was pretty much plain text. Maybe the internet archive has shots of it if it is important to you.

I am no longer amazed by breakthrough technologies going nowhere, and haven't been since soon after starting my own business. The variety of forces in the marketplace are stunning and even natural progressions can be ignored or thwarted. If we don't do something soon about the intellectual property law problems, which is just one major factor, we may grind to a standstill.