Gizmorama - October 12, 2015

Good Morning,

Recently, I found a story about adding mushrooms to improve the life and quality of lithium-ion batteries. Now, it seems that candle soot can be used to power larger lithium-ion batteries. No, really? What's next?

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Researchers develop new method for weighing stars --*
SOUTHAMPTON, England - Typically, astronomers study the kinetic relationships between and among planetary bodies to gauge the gravitational pull of a celestial body, and thus, measure its mass.

But in analyzing pulsars -- pairs of rotating neutron stars left in the wake of a supernova -- researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new way determine a star's mass.

Mature pulsars feature a stable rate of rotation, their rotating beam of electromagnetic radiation marks their orbit like a clock hand. Young pulsars, however, often feature a glitch or arrhythmia. This skipped beat afforded scientists a breakthrough, but offering clues as to the inner workings of a pulsar.

"Imagine the pulsar as a bowl of soup, with the bowl spinning at one speed and the soup spinning faster," researcher Nils Andersson, a professor of applied mathematics at Southampton, explained in a press release. "Friction between the inside of the bowl and its contents, the soup, will cause the bowl to speed up. The more soup there is, the faster the bowl will be made to rotate."

Using this new understanding of fluidynamics inside a pulsar -- and armed with new radio and X-ray data -- Andersson and his colleagues built a mathematical model that predicts a star's mass based on the magnitude and frequency of its glitches.

The scientists detailed their star-weighing math in the journal Science Advances.

"Our results provide an exciting new link between the study of distant astronomical objects and laboratory work in both high-energy and low-temperature physics," added Andersson. "It is a great example of interdisciplinary science."


*-- Candle soot can power lithium ion batteries --*
HYDERABAD, India - Carbon is a common ingredient in the production of smaller lithium batteries, but it doesn't work as well in larger batteries, like those used to power electric cars.

That could soon change. Researchers in India have discovered a unique material for carbon-based anodes, the parts of a lithium battery that store energy and facilitate the flow of electricity. The material is candle soot, the unique carbon nanoparticles wafting off the end of a candle flame.

Carbon used in smaller batteries loses its conductivity when scaled up, but candle soot features the proper density for use in larger batteries.

As the scientists experiments proved, the shape and configuration of the tiny carbon particles produced by a burning candle have impressive electric potential. When researchers looked at different parts of a candle flame, they found the bottom and middle sides of the flame produce nanoparticles in unique configurations. The hotter burning tip, however, produced similar configurations with fewer impurities.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology then tested the candle soot's potential inside a lithium battery, using a technique called cyclic charge-discharge, which measures the rate at which a battery can assume and then release its stored electric potential. The higher the rate, the higher the battery power. Bigger, more powerful batteries -- like those that power a car -- have to discharge a sizable amount of electricity very quickly.

Testing showed the candle soot worked best at high charge-discharge rates. Researchers published the results in the journal Electrochimica Acta.

In addition to working at high-power rates, the material is relatively easy to produce -- and easily scalable.

"Generally we overlook the simpler things; candle soot is not new but we're only now looking at it as a potential source of carbon," lead study author Chandra Sharma, a material scientists at the institute, said in a press release. "We're very excited about the results. This new approach is very easy and the costs involved are minimal -- it would make battery production cheaper."

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