Sand-Based Battery Outperforms Current Models

Jul-10-14 Researchers have developed a sand-based, lithium-ion battery anode able to outperform current batteries by three times, reducing the need for toxic and expensive materials.

The anode was inspired by a day at the beach, when grad student Zachary Favors realized that beach sand is primarily made up of quartz, also known as silicon dioxide. Favors, whose research focuses on building better batteries, took a batch of quartz-heavy sand back to the lab and milled it down to nanometer size. After a series of purification steps, he then ground salt and magnesium into the now-purified quartz and heated it to create pure silicon. The process also caused the nano-silicon to form into very porous 3D silicon with a sponge-like consistency, which is key to better battery performance.

The team has already created coin-sized batteries using the process, and now plans to move on to larger batteries, such as those used in cell phones.

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