Quantum batteries are theoretically awesome, practically non-existent
By Vlad Savov 
posted December 22nd 2009 10:45AM
posted December 22nd 2009 10:45AM
Today's dose of overly ambitious tech research comes from the physics lab over at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in a proposal titled "Digital quantum batteries: Energy and information storage in nano vacuum tube arrays." It's like a who's who of undelivered promises got together and united to form one giant and impossible dream, but it's one we'd prefer to believe in regardless. Aiming to improve battery performance by "orders of magnitude," the project's fundamental premise is that when capacitors -- and we're talking billions of them -- are taken to a small enough scale and packed to within 10nm of one another, quantum effects act to prevent energy loss. The projected result is a wonderful world of rapid recharges and storage of up to ten times the energy current lithium-ion packs can hold, as well as the potential for data retention. The only problem? It would take a year just to build a prototype, meaning we can expect market availability somewhere between a score from now and just prior to the underworld morphing into an ice rink.
How about some optimism Engadget? If this works & granted its a big if , we could be in some good times :)
@(Unverified)
Because this is more than likely an attempt to garner fresh grant money so they don't have to go out and get real jobs. I mean who wants to have to run around town with an unlicensed particle accelerator on their back these days?
Awesome reference to QuantumLeap!
@rjzak Al's handlink isn't the colorful see-through one in this shot, which tells us it's from an earlier episode.
It also tells us that I'm incredibly dorky for even knowing that.
@peestandingup
Don't feel bad, I noticed it right off too.
Now for a more QL geekiness check: Do you have the soundtrack CD they put out? I do.. and it didn't have the one track I was really hoping it would (bought back before there were samples for discs online to check and titles weren't all clear).
Oh boy...
(Mad props to Ziggy.)
Why am I dressed like a girl in a strip club?
@scolen2 Donno, but I like it!
Now DANCE for me again!
http://www.xkcd.com/678/
@NeoJew My thoughts, exactly.
It would be awesome but there's too many problems for this to happen within say... 30 years - manufacturing aside they're capacitors and wouldn't provide a (moderatly) stable voltage like batteries do and even if they did they'd be too dangerous. 10 X the energy of a lithium cell = one hell of a bang if something goes wrong.
I agree with Kiwi :)
We desperately need a new revolutionary way to store energy and such great ideas can lead ahead in the path.
Its worth mentioning the other endeavor in same field which is pretty much possible - "Schindall's group has increased the charge and discharge rates and storage capacity of traditional ultracapacitors by using carbon nanotubes instead of activated carbon on the electrode's surface. In essence, this increases the surface area of the electrode"
Its taken from same article which author is referring to.
The only problem I see with these is trying to find them when you need'em: it goes to say that just looking for them will cause the batteries to not exist.
@AniMill Not really. For example OFDM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonal_frequency-division_multiplexing) came 40 years back but its application only now in CDMA, Network on Power lines.
We do need them. Badly.
Renewable sources energy must be trapped and used. for e.g. solar energy is available on in day. We need some storage to provide power at night same way as we get using a Thermal or other non-renewable turbine sources.
non-renewable are about to exhaust.
Few days back I read an article about solar energy being deployed some where in California.
@Bill Gates
Cocaine's a helluva drug
If by batteries do you mean dick?
Quantum tunneling would make them all lose their charge rapidly, not sure what they teach these fools at MIT nowadays, everybody knows about quantum tunneling.
@Wwhat
You didn't read the paper, they explicitly address that problem.
Hmm, so a nano vacuum would stop it? Doesn't seem possible though, he should look at the troubles IBM/intel has as it is in practice to see how realistic that setup is, theory is one thing but reality another and we should at least take in the realities we already encountered when theorizing.
This is about the 5th very promising battery innovation that has come out in the last 2 years, most promising 10 times the battery power of current batteries.
Now if only the scientists of these discoveries could get together and share in the profits of course, to take all of their battery recipes and make ones that last 50 times current batteries, take 5 minutes for a full charge, discharges slower and will last for a lifetime... and bring them out asap...
But wait, what if we take those superbatteries and inject stemmcells!!
Ziggy says there is a 0.15% probably of seeing this during my lifetime.
I'm pretty sure battery technology, and technology in general, will stay largely the same for another 20 years.
Smartphones will simply become gradually capable until some intelligent company releases one that connects to your monitor and switches to a desktop interface.
More like when Hell freezes over!
Oh, wait...
words zpm
@Atlantian
ZedPM!
This coming soon and practical cold fusion is right around the corner (as always). No wonder they gave us the the screengrab to go with the... meal...
Oh boy indeed.
My quantum battery is fully charged, and it's completely out of power.
If it's going to take a year to build, then you'll probably see it on the market in 5 years or less. Bitches don't know about my Kurzweilian growth.
"It's like a who's who of undelivered promises got together and united to form one giant and impossible dream..."
My new favourite Engadget line 2009.