Courtesy EVToday

UNC Says Nanotubes Boost Battery Energy Storage

Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) are working with
carbon nanotubes in an effort to increase the energy storage potential of
batteries. In their experiments, the carbon nanotubes are being used as a
substitute for standard graphite electrodes.

Using laser technology to create single-wall carbon nanotubes, the
researchers implanted them in lithium ion batteries. The closed ends of the
nanotubes were opened, which allowed lithium ions to diffuse more
efficiently inside the nanotubes.

The experiments have led the researchers to the finding that carbon
nanotubes contain twice the energy density of conventional graphite.

"Scientists and others, including the popular press, have shown a lot of
interest in carbon nanotubes because of numerous potential applications,"
said associate professor Otto Zhou, director of UNC's North Carolina Center
for Nanoscale Materials. "They are very strong tubular structures formed
from a single layer of carbon atoms and are only about a billionth of a
meter in diameter."

Results of the experiments were published in the January 7 issue of Physical
Review Letters.

The UNC scientists have received a U.S. patent for using single-wall carbon
nanotubes to store electrical charges.

"We have shown this for the first time experimentally," said Zhou. "Now,
we'll have to work to overcome other practical issues before we can make
real devices, but we are very optimistic."

Contact: North Carolina Center for Nanoscale Materials, website
http://www.physics.unc.edu/research/cmmp/cmmp_nccnm.html.