The Holy Grail
Gone are the days when you needed to charge your cell phone and laptop every day. It can now work non-stop for three days!
Yes! Scientists and researchers at the Bournes College of Engineering, University of California have devised a new battery which can be charged from sand. They have created a lithium-ion battery which will outperform the universal standard by three times.
A graduate student in the team of researchers, Zachary Favors, came up with this idea when he was relaxing on the beach six months back. He examined the sand closely and noticed that it was mostly made up of silicon dioxide (Si02) and quartz (Si04) in high percentages. The sand was then taken to the lab by him, grinded into nanometer size and purified. Magnesium and salt was then added into the pure quartz and the powder was heated. As the salt absorbed the heat, the magnesium removed the oxygen from the quartz and left behind pure silicon. Favors gave this powder, a new term called ‘The Holy Grail’.
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The new method is low cost, non-toxic and environment friendly. The researchers working on this project said that he is focusing on building better lithium batteries for both consumer electronic devices as well as electric vehicles. They are working on using silicon to replace graphite as silicon has the highest capacity for holding strong lithium ions.
The end product of the heating process was pure nano-silicon and it assumed a porous, 3D consistency, optimal enough for improving the performance of batteries. The improved performance is now expected to improve the lifespan of silicon-based electric vehicles up to three times or more.
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