{"id":6437,"date":"2016-03-23T08:23:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T08:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/?p=276046"},"modified":"2016-03-24T08:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T08:24:00","slug":"a-new-nontoxic-way-to-generate-portable-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2016\/03\/23\/a-new-nontoxic-way-to-generate-portable-power\/","title":{"rendered":"A new nontoxic way to generate portable power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this time-lapse series of photos, progressing from top to bottom, a coating of sucrose (ordinary sugar) over a wire made of carbon nanotubes is lit at the left end, and burns from one end to the other. As it heats the wire, it drives a wave of electrons along with it, thus converting the heat into electricity. (credit: MIT)<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s a new idea for a nontoxic battery: light fuel-coated carbon nanotubes on fire (like a fuse) to generate electricity.<\/p>\n

Sounds crazy but it works, according to inventor Michael Strano<\/a>, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT<\/a>. Plus it avoids\u00a0toxic materials such as lithium, which can be difficult to dispose of and that have limited global supplies),<\/p>\n

The new approach is based on a\u00a0discovery<\/a>\u00a0announced in 2010 by Strano and his co-workers: A wire made from carbon nanotubes can produce an electrical current when it is progressively heated from one end to the other — for example, by coating it with a combustible material and then lighting one end to let it burn like a fuse.<\/p>\n

Basically, the effect arises as a pulse of heat pushes electrons through the bundle of carbon nanotubes, carrying the electrons with it like a bunch of surfers riding a wave.<\/p>\n

Experiments at the time produced only a minuscule amount of current in a simple laboratory setup. But now, Strano and his team have increased the efficiency of the process more than a thousandfold and have produced devices that can put out power that is, pound for pound, in the same ballpark as what can be produced by today\u2019s best batteries. The researchers caution, however, that it could take several years to develop the concept into a commercializable product.<\/p>\n

The new results were published in the journal\u00a0Energy & Environmental Science<\/em>, in a paper by Strano, doctoral students Sayalee Mahajan PhD \u201915 and Albert Liu, and five others.<\/p>\n