Self-healing batteries

Technology Review (Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 17) -- U. of I. materials scientists Paul Braun and Nancy Sottos are cited regarding work on self-healing high-capacity batteries.

Related story: The Christian Science Monitor (Nov. 19) -- Stanford University researchers and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have created a battery electrode that heals itself that could mean a longer life for the lithium-ion batteries used in iPhones and other devices. The silicon electrodes can store 10 times more lithium resulting in longer battery life. The approach may provide a new way forward for promising materials that have been stalled. “This points to a way to solve a general problem with high-capacity anodes,” says Paul Braun, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who is not involved in the work. Also: MIT Technology Review (Nov. 19), Chemistry World (Nov. 17).