The latest in offering by Intel backed ZPower is the alternative to the lithium-ion based laptop batteries with a silver-zinc technology. The silver-zinc technology is also known as the silver oxide technology.
The release date for these batteries would be sometime in 2009 with a major Manufacturer.
According to ZPower the laptop batteries run 40 % longer than the normal lithium-ion batteries and are 95% recyclable.
The major use of silver-oxide batteries has been limited to Space Craft’s such as the Apollo spacecraft, torpedoes and US Alfa Submarines.
The silver-oxide batteries are known for its long life and according to the company the batteries can last up to more than 200 cycles at full discharge.
Also there are few other advantages of the silver-oxide batteries like the absence of lithium and a water based technology means that the risk of inflammation is eliminated. Inflammation has been the major cause for the recall of lithium-ion batteries.
However there are a few disadvantages as well that come with the silver-oxide batteries like the high cost of silver which is one of the reasons that the use of the batteries had been limited to small button cells. ZPower plan to reduce the cost by a trade-in policy that will reduce the cast of mining new material. As 95% of the material is recyclable most of the raw material is recovered and as per ZPower the process used also makes sure that the quality of the material is maintained.
Also one more disadvantage of the batteries is mercury leakage. As these batteries have zinc in them to prevent zinc corrosion mercury is needed which leads to hydrogen production and deformation of the batteries. Also the Mercury is poisonous if it is left in the batteries at the end of their life.
ZPower however have come up with a solution for the shape change problems with a polymer electrode which restricts both shape change and growth of dendrites. This also helps other battery technologies.
There are many other innovation that have been used in the new batteries like, a new battery separator stack that can resist dendrite growth and silver cathode degradation. Also it has a nano particle coating which improves the conductivity.
The Major advantage however though is the battery life which has increased by 40% which until now has been achieved by manufacturers by improving the devices such as screens and disk drives more efficient.
Posted under Latest News
This post was written by Brad on October 14, 2008
