A metal-
Spiced minerals can lead to cheaper batteries for mobile phones and laptops.
The researchers will use this new material to make lithium.
The positive pole of the ion battery should also be safe enough to make large light batteries for power
Hungry hybrid electric cars and electric tools. Lithium-
More than 10 years ago, Sony's first ion battery was now widely used as a convenient, lightweight and rechargeable power supply for mobile phones, laptops and some other gadgets.
But the positive or cathode of the battery is usually made of lithium cobalt oxide, which is expensive and requires an electronic circuit to prevent the device from overheating when charging (SN: 12/16/00, p. 399).
This risk also limits the size of the battery.
In 1997, researchers at the University of Texas in Austin proposed a new cathode material, lithium iron phosphate, which is cheaper and safer than lithium cobalt oxide.
However, lithium iron phosphate has h