Batteries The Size Of A Grain Of Salt

UCLA researchers are setting a Grain of Salt size goal for their new project which is to develop a tiny version of lithium-ion batteries. This is the kind of battery you'd find in your laptop, your cellphone, and the music player you've got there on your desk. Research is said to be in early stages, but may one day power miniature electronic devices ... maybe like a little robot like they had in the one movie... Transformers? No. Batteries Not Included.

While the type of batteries we have now work because lithium ions move back and forth from a negative to a positive electrode, UCLA professor Jane Chang is designing an electrolyte that allows a charge to flow between electrodes. Tiny stuff. "We're trying to achieve the same power densities, the same energy densities as traditional lithium ion batteries, but we need to make the footprint much smaller," says Chang.

[Via PR Newswire]