Next Big Thing Is a Really Small Battery
Aug. 28 -- A revolution in science that could surpass the impact of the transistor or the automobile has evolved at lightning speed since its inception just a little over a decade ago, with institutions around the world scrambling for position in a world where it pays to think small. Very small.
Scientists at International Business Machines set off a technological explosion in 1990 when they used an atomic force microscope to nudge individual atoms into the right position to spell out those well-known initials, IBM. It was a remarkable achievement because something had been assembled — although it was just a sign — one atom at a time.
Just a few decades ago, it took many years for that kind of achievement to have much of an impact, but we're in the age of electronics now, and advancements in nanotechnology — the field of developing very small scientific tools — are as big today as its components are small.
According to the National Science Foundation, 17 federal agencies are into nanotechnology in a big way, supporting its development to the tune of $1 billion a year. They're into it because tiny devices so small that they can only be seen with powerful microscopes could someday carry drugs through your veins to exactly the spot where you need them, or detect hazardous materials that are invisible to the unaided eye, or power a cell phone for months.
Tiny Energy for Tiny Devices
The list of applications seems to have no end, and some experts believe consumer electronic devices built with components only a billionth of a meter — that's one nanometer — in size could be in the marketplace within five years.
In a field that is so young and is moving so quickly it's hard to see the milestones, but it has advanced from the theoretical research phase to patented techniques that will form the foundation for its growth and development.
One such patent has just been issued to the University of Tulsa for batteries that are so small that 40 could be stacked across the width of a human hair. Chemistry professor Dale Teeters and two of his former chemical engineering students, Nina Korzhova and Lane Fisher, have constructed thousands of tiny batteries, each of which can deliver up to 3.5 volts.
