Batteries could become a lot cheaper, thanks to research coming out of France this week. It’s early, but we’re closer to replacing lithium-ion with a new type of sodium-ion battery than ever before.
The rechargeable battery that powers your laptop, tablet, and mobile phone is almost certainly powered by a lithium ion battery. The problem: there’s not a lot of lithium on our planet. Sodium, on the other hand, is so plentiful that you sprinkle sodium-chloride on your food without even thinking about it (but you probably just call it salt).
Sodium is one thousand times more abundant on earth than lithium, and lithium-ion batteries are in countless devices. So switching from lithium-ion batteries to sodium-ion could lead to cost savings in a wide variety of consumer projects, from Teslas to tablets.
This is why researchers have been trying to develop such a battery for decades, but this week’s news marks the first time such a battery was built in the “18650” industry standard used by laptop computers and other devices today.
Six labs worked together to find the ideal “recipe” for the cathode of the battery. Researchers at the CEA (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) were eventually able to work out something that closely resembles the batteries in your laptop, which is a first.
Work was also done to move the process of making this cathode to the “pre-industrial” scale, meaning producing kilograms instead of just a few grams. There’s been progress, and the resulting batteries are among the best-performing sodium-ion units ever seen.
The energy density is as high as 90 watt-hours per kilogram, which is comparable to very early lithium ion batteries, though behind what’s currently available. That is the rub, currently. Because of the energy density, these batteries have to be relatively heavy and large to provide enough power. Researchers hope refining the idea will reduce this problem.
There’s a lot of work to be done yet, but if the research goes well, it’ll lead to batteries that are less expensive and easier on our environment.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.