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Magnetic levitation is central to the fastest trains we know today, but it's that dependence on electromagnets and rails that limits how and where it's used for transportation. Aoyama Gakuin University has a unique alternative: changing the material properties themselves. By floating graphite over a bed of circular magnets, taking advantage of its tendency to generate an opposing magnetic field, researchers can move the graphite just by blasting its edge with a laser. The heat skews the magnetic behavior of that area enough to unbalance the graphite, either in a specific direction or a spin. The research team believes it could lead to maglev transportation or even energy converting turbines that are steered solely by light, with no contact or outside guides: maglev vehicle pilots could have much more control over where they go. Getting to that point will require a much larger scale, but successful development could give technology a very literal lift.
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Via: Phys.org
Source: JACS
Anyone who's had to recharge an EV -- or, for that matter, any mobile device with a very big battery -- knows the pain of waiting for hours while a lithium-ion pack tops up. South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a conduction technique that could cut that charging time down to less than a minute. By dousing the nanoparticle materials of the battery in a graphite solution that's then carbonized, the researchers make a web of conductors that all start charging at once; current batteries have to charge towards the center slowly, like a not-very-edible Tootsie Pop. The immediate goal is to develop a secondary battery for an EV that could provide extra mileage in a matter of seconds. Here's hoping that the Ulsan team's fast-charging battery is more viable than others and spreads to just about everything -- we'd love to have EVs and laptops alike that power up in as much time as it takes to fill a traditional car at the pump.
[Image credit: iFixit]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Korean carbon-coated lithium-ion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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