By packing batteries with twice as much energy-storing material, engineers have developed a new generation of alkaline batteries that can double the battery life of your MP3 players, digital cameras, and other gadgets. The new batteries also produce a higher voltage. so flashlights shine brighter, and camera flashes recover quicker. We live in a digital world, relying on batteries to power everything from laptops to digital cameras and MP3. Standard batteries drain under the strain. Now engineers have developed a longer-lasting battery just for these digital demands.

A battery continually produces new electrons at the negative terminal from a series of chemical reactions. So the battery essentially acts like a pump, pulling electrons from the negative end of the conducting wire and pushing them into the positive end. A battery only holds a certain amount of reactants, and once those are used up, there can be no more chemical reactions, and the battery is dead.
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A tenfold improvement in battery life?

Stanford University researchers have made a discovery that could signal the arrival of laptop batteries that last more than a day on a single charge. The researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to give rechargeable lithium ion batteries--used in laptops, iPods, video cameras, and mobile phones--as much as 10 times more charge. This potentially could give a conventional battery-powered laptop 40 hours of battery life, rather than 4 hours.

The new batteries were developed by assistant professor Yi Cui and colleagues at Stanford University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "It's not a small improvement," Cui said. "It's a revolutionary development." Citing a research paper they wrote, published in Nature Nanotechnology, Cui said the increased battery capacity was made possible though a new type of anode that utilizes silicon nanowires. Traditional lithium ion batteries use graphite as the anode. This limits the amount of lithium--which holds the charge--that can be held in the anode, and it therefore limits battery life.
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Burned again, Kyocera recalls more phone batteries

Update Kyocera Wireless on Thursday expanded from 40,000 to 1 million the number of possibly counterfeit cell phone batteries it began recalling in May, blaming the mushrooming impact on an allegedly renegade former battery supplier.
Kyocera started its "small-scale battery replacement program" in May after discovering a batch of about 40,000 batteries supplied by Hecmma Group of El Paso, Texas, contained counterfeits, said Kyocera Wireless spokesman John Chier. "After we issued the recall and terminated their contract, we found that they were continuing to supply the batteries to the gray market" of sometimes dubious wireless goods outlets, Chier said.

The recall now includes the KE/KX 400 series, 3200 series and its popular Slider series cell phones sold at Alltel, Cricket Communications, MetroPCS, US Cellular and Verizon Wireless stores nationwide; telemarketing retailers; and various Web sites. The batteries on these phones are prone to overheating, say safety officials. More than a dozen phones with the batteries attached have overheated, causing two minor burn injuries, according to a spokesman for Kyocera Wireless.
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Viruses may be the new batteries

Genetically manipulated viruses could replace standard lithium-ion batteries, packing two to three times more energy than other batteries, researchers say. The virus batteries could be thin, transparent, and lightweight, according to a US study published online recently in the journal Science by Professor Angela Belcher of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and team. Because less material is devoted to packaging, more of the battery is used just for generating power. "What we're trying to do is have all of the mass and volume be used for the purpose it is to be used for, which is to power the device," says Belcher.

The researchers say such a battery should last as long as conventional batteries. And it could power anything from microelectronics, including chemical and biological sensors, 'lab on chip' devices, and security tags to larger items such as mobile phones, computer displays and even electric cars. Building batteries, like building anything, requires assembly. The smaller the battery, the more challenging that is. Current manufacturing techniques involve arranging nanoparticles, nanotubes, or nanowires on surfaces using expensive, high-temperature methods. Belcher and her team decided to capitalise on biology's inherent knack for organising microscopic structures and apply it to battery technology.
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State to Prevent Battery Pollution

The State Environmental Protection Administration is seeking better ways to curb environmental threats from large quantities of heavy metals, acid and alkali that have been leaking from discarded batteries. A new research program currently run by the administration is focusing on measures to significantly reduce the environmental and health dangers by improving the collection, treatment and disposal of discarded batteries. The program aims to generate standard techniques in the treatment of discarded batteries and regular reclamation of the batteries, said Yu Dehui, director of the technology department under the administration.

Batteries that are not properly disposed of will disintegrate and leak the dangerous substances in ground water, soil and air, eventually polluting the food people consume. Currently China still lacks the techniques to effectively treat discarded batteries, according to the official. Yu said batteries that contain mercury, which is very harmful to the environment and human health, will eventually be phased out of use.