Topic: Apple Takes the Lead: Laptops, iPads and iPhones without Lithium ?

[piersdad]

once the  big companies  put the big R&D in the results will escalate

With the first patent, Apple would incorporate, for the first time, a fuel cell into its most advanced laptops, iPad tablets and iPhones so as to extend - from hours to weeks - the duration of the electrical energy that feeds them. This invention will eventually lead to a full replacement of the lithium-ion batteries currently used in such electronic devices.

With the second patent, Apple would introduce a hybrid design consisting of the use of a fuel cell with a battery so that the former can continuously recharge the latter. This invention will tend to discourage technological development of lithium batteries because it would remove the need to increase the energy capacity of the battery.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/316940-apple-takes-the-lead-laptops-ipads-and-iphones-without-lithium
so maybe in the future we may have a hybrid all electric car with small battery or super capacitor
and a fuel cell
depends on whether the lap top size fuel cell can be up sized to power a car or at least boost the range of a smaller battery

[piersdad]

Lithium-ion batteries charge through a chemical reaction in which lithium ions are sent between two ends of the battery, the anode and the cathode. As energy in the battery is used, the lithium ions travel from the anode, through the electrolyte, and to the cathode; as the battery is recharged, they travel in the reverse direction.

With current technology, the performance of a lithium-ion battery is limited in two ways. Its energy capacity -- how long a battery can maintain its charge -- is limited by the charge density, or how many lithium ions can be packed into the anode or cathode. Meanwhile, a battery's charge rate -- the speed at which it recharges -- is limited by another factor: the speed at which the lithium ions can make their way from the electrolyte into the anode.

In current rechargeable batteries, the anode -- made of layer upon layer of carbon-based graphene sheets -- can only accommodate one lithium atom for every six carbon atoms. To increase energy capacity, scientists have previously experimented with replacing the carbon with silicon, as silicon can accommodate much more lithium: four lithium atoms for every silicon atom. However, silicon expands and contracts dramatically in the charging process, causing fragmentation and losing its charge capacity rapidly.

Currently, the speed of a battery's charge rate is hindered by the shape of the graphene sheets: they are extremely thin -- just one carbon atom thick -- but by comparison, very long. During the charging process, a lithium ion must travel all the way to the outer edges of the graphene sheet before entering and coming to rest between the sheets. And because it takes so long for lithium to travel to the middle of the graphene sheet, a sort of ionic traffic jam occurs around the edges of the material.

the research going on today is mind boggling we are talking about atom thick sheets  of graphene  with a few atoms of  other types to assist the ions to travel

http://www.electroiq.com/articles/stm/2011/11/northwestern-researchers-advance-li-ion-battery-with-graphene-silicon-sandwich.html