Nano Technology

To get an idea of why nanoparticles, filling the same space as typically larger particles, have a much greater surface (active) area, imagine if you were measuring a specific section of a coastline.

One way to do this would be to drive down a paved road that parallels the beach, which in this case measures exactly one mile.

But suppose that you had an accurate pedometer (which measures the distance you walk) and you walked along the edge of this section of the beach, curving in and out as you followed the beach contours -- this way you'd measure a distance that is longer than the one mile measured along the straight road.

Similarly, if you could follow the outline of each grain of sand at the edge of the beach, the vastly greater number of turns and twists along the outside of these particles would measure yet a FAR greater distance.

This is why using nanoparticles in the battery, or for many other uses, provides a far larger reactive surface area than larger (traditional) particles.

Other improvements from using this technology include raising the number of times that the battery can be charged from a few hundred times (did you ever wonder why you need a new notebook battery every year or so?), to 1,000 times. Yet even with this number of recharges, the battery will lose only 1% of its capacity. Oh - these new batteries are also said to have a higher energy-density, for a given size and weight, than current batteries.

Additionally, this battery is extremely forgiving temperature-wise, providing 80% of its capacity at -40 degrees F, and 95% of capacity at 113 degrees F. Although most of us don't use our portable electronic devices at such cold temperatures, I have been in the Arizona desert when the air temperature exceeded 120 degrees. But even in more normal summer temperatures something left out in the sun can get far hotter. This enhanced temperature range will be VERY important since Toshiba expects these batteries will initially power future electric-only and hybrid cars, plus other industrial devices such as locomotives, all of which obviously must work in extreme temperatures.

Also, the higher capacity and lightening-fast recharge rate could change the rules for electric-only cars -- imagine restoring an electric car's full charge in ten minutes when you pull into a "gas