Prof. Yair Ein-Eli in his Technion lab, where he invented a battery that is potentially as eco-friendly as sand.

Oct 14, 2009 23:46 | Updated Oct 15, 2009 11:14

New Israeli battery provides thousands of hours of power

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

A new kind of portable electrochemical battery that can produce thousands of hours of power – and soon replace the expensive regular or rechargeable batteries in hearing aids and sensors and eventually in cellphones, laptop computers and even electric cars – has been developed at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

The unique battery is based on silicon as a fuel that reverts to its original sand. The battery can also be left on the shelf for years and inserted into a device to provide immediate power.

It was developed over the last two-and-a-half years by Prof. Yair Ein-Eli of the Technion’s materials engineering department, with collaboration by Prof. Digby Macdonald of Pennsylvania State University in the US and Prof. Rika Hagiwara of Kyoto University in Japan.

via New Israeli battery based provides 1000s of hours of power | Science and Environment | Jerusalem Post.