Liquid crystal locomotion

Nanoporous materials developed by Nanotecture may offer a solution to the power limitations of standard, non-rechargeable lithium batteries — a major drawback in high-power applications.

The company is using a templating method to produce nanostructured materials to make the batteries' cathodes, allowing structures to be formed around a template, which is then removed.

'We use things such as liquid crystals as templates,' said Nanotecture chief executive Chris Wright. 'These self-organise at a nano-scale, allowing us to build our material around the liquid crystal.'

Wright said the technique could solve the batteries' low power problem by improving the chemical kinetics of the solid state reactions within the electrodes.

'If you can make an electrode with a well-controlled high surface area, it means the electrolyte can diffuse relatively quickly, therefore you can increase the kinetics,' he said. 'This would increase the power of the battery.'

The hexagonally close-packed liquid crystals used by Nanotecture in the battery manufacturing process contain hexagonal, rod-shaped crystals, surrounded by an aqueous component.