New battery would allow for faster recharging

New Scientist : Amy Prieto and colleagues at Colorado State University in Fort Collins are developing a rechargeable battery that is smaller, lighter, and more rapidly rechargeable than current electric car batteries. According to Helen Knight, writing for New Scientist, the battery has hairbrush-like electrodes that can be charged in just a few minutes. Instead of the current design used in lithium-ion batteries, which consist of a graphite anode and lithium cathode with an electrolyte sandwiched between them, Prieto’s battery uses nanowire anodes made of copper antimonide. The large surface area of the millions of nanowires means they can store twice as many lithium ions as the same amount of graphite. Prieto, who has founded the company Prieto Battery , discussed the team’s prototype battery at the American Chemical Society meeting this week in Anaheim, California.