Many technology manufacturers have recently developed partially transparent technological devices. The only outstanding issue is the battery being not transparent like the rest of the device. Recent developments from Stanford University have made the transparent battery a possibility. However, the battery may seem transparent but in reality it is not. Researcher Yi Cui realized that the chemical components of a battery could not be made transparent or replaced by transparent objects. This posed a problem. However, researchers at Stanford discovered a way to make the components of the battery so small that they were still functional but not seen by the naked eye.
There are a few advantages to this mode of battery. One aspect of the product that may pose a problem for this product is the price. Have no fear, researchers say that this battery will be relatively similar to current batteries as long as low cost metals are continuing to be used in the development process. This could be a great development for the future of the technology world. With cheaper batteries technological devices such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones could be made available at a cheaper price to consumers. This would create a much higher demand for products and overall help companies prosper.
Even though this development seems great there is always a downside to any situation. According to the researchers at Stanford this transparent battery only possesses about half the amount of power as a regular lithium-ion battery. This poses an issue in the developmental processes of larger technological devices. This type of battery will probably not be able to power a larger device. This puts limitations on quality of functionality that the devices will have.
According to a video voiced by Katherine Bourzac, material science editor at Technology Review, this is the first time an energy storage device like this has been developed allowing a large amount of energy to be stored. With that being said, if the battery is able to be redone so that it can become as powerful as it's lithium-ion counterpart then there will be enough storage space for the new and improved energy to be stored. Overall, this is a work in progress but is a preliminary development for a much bigger product in the future of engineering.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/july/transparent-litiumion-battery-072511.html
http://video.mit.edu/watch/transparent-batteries-44/
Lindsay, great job on your blog. This was an interesting product to read about. However, I agree with you with the fact that this product is a work in progress. One benefit I do see is the fact that you mentioned how the product price would be similar to battery prices now. Therefore, business and consumers won't have to worry so much about the transparent batteries being a very costly expense. A greater amount of people would be able to purchase this product since it is not much of an investment if the price is kept relatively the same in comparison to battery prices now.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, although you mentioned how the components of the battery could be made and not be seen with the naked eye and still be functional, there is a disadvantage since the batteries are so small. Like Lindsay mentioned, the battery doesn't have as much power as a regular lithium-ion battery. So, how useful could this battery be? If it won't be able to power larger devices, then who will really want to be buy this product? Will it really sell in the market?
I feel that this product definitely needs to be worked on, and maybe a battery that will hold a greater amount of power will be able to attract customers better.