Laptop batteries that won't die

Laptop batteries were never meant to die. But plenty of CIOs have a different kind of experience. Even when fully charged, a laptop battery might last for half the trip across the country, not even even a full non-stop flight. And plenty of executives know that carrying a spare makes for an awkward juggling experience on a crowded plane.

Now a professor at Stanford University has come up with a way of creating longer-life lithium batteries. Yi Cui, assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed a way for batteries to produce 10 times the electricity that most batteries are able to do. And that results in as much as 20 hours of device power, nearly enough to fly from New York to Africa without changing batteries or halting your laptop work.

The technology is simple. Instead of using carbon inside a battery, silicon is used in the battery's anode. The silicon can hold much more lithium than carbon. Cui's battery also uses nanotechnology to increase capacity. Cui has already filed a patent, and he is considering the formation of a company that sells these batteries. As the world gets smaller, so does the technology that drives it around. We can only ask: What's coming next?

For more on charging batteries:
- Check out this CIO Magazine Article