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A new burst of energy has reinvigorated the battery industry in the last year, and the catalyst for much of the renewed focus is the unlikely spectre of flaming laptops.

The stories are now legion. There was the Dell notebook that burst into flames during a conference in a hotel in Japan and another that caught fire in a truck in Nevada. That one caused ammunition in the glove compartment to ignite, which in turn set fire to the gas tank, blowing up the vehicle. Recalls became widespread: Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Acer, among others, issued warnings that the lithium ion batteries in their notebooks could overheat and turn into a conflagration.

In most instances, the problem was put down to metal particle impurities in the cells that caused a short. While only a handful of batteries were involved, the recalls forced computer manufacturers to take back millions of notebook batteries. And a moribund industry that hadn't shown much innovation or initiative to tackle the problem of overwhelmed batteries suddenly powered up its R&D departments and declared full steam ahead.

It's not just burning laptops that are driving the new urgency in battery research. Consumers crave more power, especially as they wield wireless laptops containing more energy-sucking applications. Laptop batteries have come a long way since the mid-1990s, when 30 minutes of word processing would be enough to drain them. These days, depending on the applications in use (graphics programs and DVD movies soak up a huge amount of power), batteries can last as long as eight hours.

But as wireless becomes the standard, neither consumers nor computer manufacturers are satisfied with the current longevity of batteries that are required to run longer than ever without another power source. "I think it is one of the biggest issues on the table," says Timothy Humphrey, Lenovo's director of battery technology in Raleigh, North Carolina. "The performance of batteries is No. 1, because these devices are not going to go back to being wired."

According to industry insiders, it was the battery recall that sparked the critical look at current battery technology. "Lithium ion battery technology hasn't advanced much because there just isn't a lot of attention paid to it," says Richard Shim, an analyst with the research firm IDC. "I think the recent battery recall is a big wake-up call because there hasn't been a lot of quality standards around battery technology. Everybody has their own idea of how good it should be or what the specifications should be."

It isn't just metal particle impurities in the cells shorting the batteries. Last month, Lenovo issued a recall after the computer company discovered that the physical dimensions of the batteries in one of its notebooks—when dropped at a particular angle and hit on just the right spot—would dent it, causing a malfunction and overheating.

Despite its problems, lithium ion has its defenders. "Lithium ion is a very solid chemistry," says Sara Bradford, director of the energy and power supply team for the American consultancy firm Frost and Sullivan. "It had some bad press and bad luck recently [but] it has a lot of life left in it. I still think it's going to be a prime choice for typical battery chemistry."

Lithium ion replaced nickel cadmium and hydrate batteries (in and of themselves the first rechargeable batteries) in the late 1990s. While the former technology still runs a lot of equipment (particularly power tools), the density of nickel made it difficult to make a thin, lightweight battery system. The third-lightest element, lithium lends itself well to being moulded into small units. That ability to fit into portable devices, along with its relatively recent appearance, is what still makes lithium ion a desirable technology.

Certainly, many firms see the potential in the technology and are working on more powerful, longer-lasting lithium ion batteries which, along with nickel batteries, make up a $7.5 billion market worldwide. At Boston Power in Massachusetts, founder and CEO Christina Lampe-Onnerud is singing the praises of their forthcoming lithium ion battery, Sonata. Among the features is a faster charge—30 minutes—about 80% capacity, and greater longevity of up to three years rather than the current standard of two to three months for laptop batteries (based on a computer that runs solely on a battery without another power source).

Lampe-Onnerud likens Sonata to a high-end car, where all the pieces are tuned to synchronize in the exact same split second. She says Boston Power is "fine-tuning" the chemicals in its battery to make it as efficient as possible. "I think lithium ion batteries will be around for a long time," Lampe-Onnerud says. "I think the grade of lithium ion that we have experienced in the past 15 years has been remarkable, but it's only the first level of innovation. With lithium ion, we have only scratched the surface of what that technology can do."

That might sound like hype coming from most executives, but in the battery world, Lampe-Onnerud is a force to be reckoned with. She holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Sweden's Uppsala University, has 15 patents to her name and has worked for several large corporations, pioneering the use of lithium ion. MIT's Technology Review named her one of its top 100 young innovators. "I think batteries have a more exciting future than fuel cells, and that's where I'm spending all my energy," Lampe-Onnerud declares.

Among her predictions is that solar-powered systems will be tied in with lithium ion batteries, leading to the rise of a new generation of solar-powered batteries. "When that happens, I think you will see another energy revolution," Lampe-Onnerud says.

In the meantime, Boston Power is concentrating on producing dependable batteries that will deliver longer charges. "If the battery is predictable, if you buy a battery that is advertised as four hours and it actually runs four hours, you'll change your work habits. Like many of us on wireless connections at home, I can actually sit in my favourite chair or at the kitchen table," she says.

Boston Power is not the only company pursuing lithium ion's future. At 3M Co. in St. Paul, Minnesota, Nagraj Koneripalli, business manager for lithium ion components, says the company recently commercialized a mixed-metal cathode material that acts as a positive charge in the battery helping prevent lithium ion batteries from overheating.

The other technology 3M is working on is a variation on the anode, the negative in the battery, which Koneripalli describes as a "platform-changing technology" that will add 30% to a battery's run time and which 3M expects to bring to market in the next 16 to 18 months. The nanotechnology uses metal alloys that will allow significantly more energy density into the battery cell than the current commonly-used graphite anodes.

Meanwhile, because additional features on devices keep demanding more power, component makers are trying to make their parts consume less power so the batteries last longer, says IDC's Shim. Lenovo, for instance, offers software that allows users to customize how their computer works

in conjunction with the battery. Timers will turn off hard discs or disable parts of the system to help preserve power. Humphrey says one goal is to extend the battery life to the point where it goes from eight hours to creating "an all-day computing environment."

This has opened the way for the entry of the fuel cell, with their promise of greater longevity. While the best-known work in fuel cells is being done for cars, a number of companies are also developing fuel cell batteries for computers and smaller devices. Much of the research and development is centred in Vancouver, where alumni from car-battery fuel-cell company Ballard Power Systems Inc. have spread to other firms such as Angstrom Power Inc. and Tekion.

Fuel cell systems typically come in two parts. One is the cell itself, a device that combines the fuel and oxygen to create electricity. The second part is a storage module that holds the fuel—hydrogen, methanol, ethanol or formic acid. According to François Girard, business development officer for the National Research Council's Institute for Fuel

Cell Innovation, cells operate at room temperature, eliminating the problem of overheating. Better yet, unlike batteries—which can take several hours to recharge—a fuel cell cartridge takes about 30 seconds to replace. Not only that, but Paul Zimmerman, CEO of Angstrom Power, says their hydrogen fuel cell can last twice as long as a lithium ion battery, and the potential exists for even greater longevity.

Zimmerman believes within the next three years, such battery-draining features as mobile video in cellphones will be commonplace, but that battery chemistry won't have kept pace. "We think fuel cells offer an alternative to meet those energy requirements," he says.

In the same way that consumers currently plug a cellphone into a power outlet, Zimmerman envisions portable fuel cell rechargers. "Eventually we will see these in the retail landscape," Zimmerman says, "so as you pick up your Starbucks coffee, you can recharge your phone. We see a top-up of power in minutes that's meaningful, so as you're waiting for your coffee, you can refuel in minutes and be off on your way."

For its part, Tekion is developing a fuel cell that works on formic acid. In nature, red ants produce formic acid to protect themselves. Tekion uses a synthesized version in its batteries that the company has dubbed Formira and says it will launch in devices in 2008, using a hybrid lithium ion-fuel cell battery. The firm contends its fuel cell is less complicated than a methanol system and can be more easily reduced to fit into smaller devices.

Fuel cell batteries sound terrific but many details still need tweaking. First, shrinking fuel cells to fit into a cellphone is a daunting task, Girard says, especially when you consider the size of some of today's devices. Fuel cells don't just consist of the cell itself, but also the storage system. Combining the two into a reduced footprint represents a challenge.

Besides, current aircraft regulations aren't exactly amenable to the notion of passengers toting small devices containing flammable liquids such as hydrogen and methanol, although Girard says the transport of such liquid fuels in limited quantities in small devices is something regulators are examining.

Angstrom already has proof of the concept, according to Zimmerman. Last October, the company announced the world's first and only fuel cell integrated into a handset at scale, or equivalent to a battery. Soon the company will announce an even smaller fuel cell cartridge—an eight-cubic-centimetre battery that's smaller even than a standard cellphone battery. As well, the company already offers an LED flashlight containing a fuel storage system in the light's handle. One of the reasons Angstron chose hydrogen over other types of fuels is simplicity, Zimmerman says. "In general with the other approaches, you have more complicated architectures with more active components, so that contributes to a more active volume." In other words, they're not easy to shrink.

Even with the success Angstrom has had to date, Zimmerman doesn't foresee commercialization of the fuel cell battery in cellphones and other devices until 2010. He says only a few minor snags block commercialization. These include such little details as attaining manufacturing cost and volume, and achieving reliability and battery life within devices while still meeting cost targets. "We have a road map to accomplish that," Zimmerman says, "but it takes time."

It also takes money, not to mention major production-line changes within the device-manufacturing community. "You cannot turn the world around in a week," says Girard. "It takes many years to introduce new technology. The reason is that there's a lot of capital expenses related to changing a manufacturing line and this needs to be amortized in time."

Shim agrees the emerging technology will have to be extraordinary to supplant lithium ion. He points out that lithium ion batteries were similar enough in design to nickel cadmium that physical changes in the manufacturing infrastructure weren't required. As well, lithium ion offered a better charge, so the industry was willing to create a second tier of battery. "Now, something like fuel cells, that would be totally different," he says. "The challenge there is how do you convince various links in the supply chain to convert?"

While lithium ion is likely to remain the most popular battery type in the near future, hybrid lithium ion-fuel cell batteries may very well enter the market. Girard says the convergence of cellphone functions with e-mail and Web in PDAs and smart phones is introducing more features than lithium ion batteries can power. He believes that the market will create hybrids to run such applications, all of which will lead to the he next big challenge: convincing a public already jittery from burning notebooks equipped with lithium ion batteries that their hydrogen-powered computers won't explode.

Need an energy boost?
Not every battery is created equal. Here's a fast guide to available and up-and-coming battery technologies.
LITHIUM ION
Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are currently the industry standard for laptops, notebooks and other portable devices. The lightness of lithium creates a relatively lightweight battery, while the reactivity of the material helps store more energy. They hold a charge well and have the ability to be charged and recharged over and over. On the downside, they only last two or three years and, of course, there's always the potential that they will overheat and turn your laptop into a bonfire.
FUEL CELLS
Fuel cell batteries draw on hydrogen, methanol, formic acid and ethanol, combining one of the elements with water to create electricity. Fuel cells maintain a steady, low temperature, can be quickly recharged, and can offer far more longevity than a lithium ion battery. However, they are still under research and development as companies work to shrink both the cell and its fuel-storage module to a size where they'll fit in portable devices. As well, the fuel itself is flammable and could raise safety concerns.
ZINC AIR BATTERIES
Like fuel cells, zinc air batteries rely on oxygen—in this case, adding it to a chemical reaction similar to conventional batteries to create energy. Relatively inexpensive, zinc air batteries are disposable, although they last longer than conventional alkaline batteries. Excessive humidity can impact their workability.