Originally published August 15 2005
Japanese firm develops organic rechargeable battery
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A Japanese firm has announced the development of a rechargeable battery made of organic compounds that can be used for a wide range of products, called the Organic Radical Battery (ORB).
The Organic Radical Battery, or ORB, is based on a similar cell structure to a lithium ion battery, of the type commonly found in devices such as notebook computers and cell phones, but with one significant difference: instead of using poisonous ingredients like lithium and cobalt, it uses an organic compound called PTMA.
The change not only makes the battery more environmentally friendly but also delivers some properties that could make it better suited to certain applications than existing batteries, said Masaharu Satoh, principal researcher and NEC's energy device technology group in Tsukuba, Japan.
Chief among these is a high power density, which indicates how much power can be supplied for its size.
An ORB can deliver much more power than a lithium ion battery of the same size.
It's not the same as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which can typically power a PC for about an hour, but the small size and likely low cost or the ORB means it could potentially become a standard feature inside desktop PCs, unlike UPS units which are bulky and expensive.
The prototype cells measure 2.1 inches by 1.7 inches, are 0.1 inch thick, which is about the same size a stack of 3 credit cards.
Another advantage that comes from its close structure to Lithium Ion is that the manufacturing process is very similar and so mass production, when or if it occurs, could likely be done on existing battery production lines with only minor adjustments, said Satoh.
Some more work remains on fine-tuning the ORB and NEC plans to also spend the next 2 to 3 years working on possible uses for the technology as it moves towards possible commercialization.
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