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The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has collaborated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory to develop batteries that can automatically heal themselves when damaged. These new types of batteries are all built with tiny liquid-metal filled microspheres, and the capsules will break out and release liquid-metal to fill the gaps of the batteries if there’re any damages on the batteries. This technology, claimed by scientist from the university, “would help electronics survive daily use—both the long-term damage caused by charging over and over again, and also the inevitable physical damage of everyday life”.

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The development of bio-batteries is now pushed to a new level, after electronics giant Sony announced that it has developed a battery powered by paper. The batteries were demonstrated at the Eco-Products exhibition in Tokyo, where they have successfully powered a mini fan to work. Sony’s actually utilizes cellulose enzymes to accomplish this technology: after breaking down the paper, the enzymes were left with sugar that had been created from the cellulose; and then the sugar is processed to create hydrogen ions and electrons. Theoretically, a piece of A4 paper is expected to produce about 18 watts of electricity, equivalent to the electricity power of six AA batteries. But currently the electricity power we get is fewer than that, which is also a drawback of this bio-battery.

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Though claimed “zero waste” or “no waste”, these earthCell batteries actually are not something decomposing completely in the earth and leaving no footprint to the environment. Instead, they’re introducing to us a new way of selling and using batteries: since the used earthCell batteries can be returned to the company where they may get re-used again, the company and consumers would cooperate to reduce the amount of throw-away batteries, and thus to ensure the environmental friendliness. On the other hand, the earthCell features a good performance of rechargeable, as each pre-charged LSD-NiMH battery can last 30-50% longer than alkalines, even in high-power devices.

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Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a breakthrough battery technology that features both high efficiency of re-charging and better electricity energy storage. Compared with ordinary batteries, the new lithium ion batteries allows for using 10 times longer and recharges 10 times quicker. Generally it could keep your cellphone charged for a week and recharge in 15 minutes; when applied on electric cars, the battery can power it to run 500 miles with 10 minutes of charging.

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Stanford scientists are pushing us to a new age, one that popular with transparent batteries. They’re transparent and low-cost, with a mesh-like framework as the battery electrodes and each “line” in the mesh measures no wider than 35microns. [Read the rest of this entry...]

We always need AA batteries, for our mice, game players, MP3s, remote controllers and many other electronic apparatus. But after years of using, we still find it difficult to get batteries out of the devices… Maybe it is time to change AA batteries, and the recommend alternative is the Seesaw Battery by Young Suk Kim. It features two tapered edges, one of which will easily eject if you push down the other side. Convenient! [Read the rest of this entry...]

Hot summers always leave you exhausted? Never mind, as you may get vigor from these 3D Battery Ice Cubes. Just “charge up” yourself! [Read the rest of this entry...]

The top one excuse, if there is a list of commonly-used excuses for missing a call from others, must be that “my iPhone has gone out of power”. But that could no longer be accepted, after these Attachable Batteries have been made for iPod and iPhone. Since they can supply hours of extra battery juice, you can always keep your phone work and therefore no more important calls would be missed. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The changes that the science and technology bring to the world are, in a word, shocking. And recently, Sanyo has announced its new development in the lithium-ion battery tech: 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries have powered a Daihatsu Mira electric car 345 miles from Tokyo to Osaka on a single charge.

At TOY Forum 2010, Sony’s bio-battery has drawn many people’s attention. It shows how batteries generate electricity from carbohydrates. Experiments indicate that grape juice is the most efficient drink for the bio-battery to run on and 3ml of Coke could have an electrical propeller keep working for about 1 hour. Named as ‘ENE’ (Entertainment New Energy), the technology will firstly be adopted to power electronic toys. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The Crank Up Battery by Qian Jiang is an environment-friendly re-chargeable battery. When the batteries run out of power, you only need to wind them up with the hand-cracks and they will then get fully charged in 20 minutes. There is also a tiny light next to the hand-crack, which emits yellow light to remind you to charge the battery.

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Shake, shake, shake, simply shake the battery and you will charge it in quite an easy way. It is composed of a rechargeable Ni-mH battery, a shaft, a coiled bobbin, a permanent magnet and a rubber shock-absorber. When it is shaken, the permanent part of the battery will move up and down through the shaft to produce electricity effectively.

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Though batteries are common gadgets we often use in daily life, most of us cannot remember their exact sizes. But with the A-to-D rechargeable battery that fits all slots, you’ll never get the size wrong. When in need, it can be changed to your required size with just a slight squeeze.

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Integrating charger into the rechargeable battery is interesting trend in product design industry. This one is another example. It comes with two pins on the side that pop out, which can be plugged into a socket for recharging.

In addition, there is also a screen which can tell you the remaining power.

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This so-called solarcat is actually a solar battery. Oh, no, it is not the traditionally solar battery; instead, it is a solar powered rechargeable battery.

In order to charge the rechargeable battery, we usually have to buy an additional charger, but this one can charge itself without any extra device. Thanks to the flexible solar panels skin, this solarcat can be recharged just by bathing in the sunglight.