Na-ion the new Li-ion? Hyperloop update. Carbon Nanotubes get closer to reality. US military brings the Matrix to life

As an engineer, and someone who is fascinated in technology, I love to keep up-to-date with what is happening in the world of technology. In this weekly blog, I’ll post about some of the most interesting things I see around the web. The technology will mainly focus on innovations in engineering and power, but If I see anything of general engineering interest, I’ll post those too.

Na-ion?

The University of Texas at Dallas and Seoul National Universityhave developed a manganese and sodium-ion-based material that they believe could provide an alternative to LI-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other battery driven products.

Sodium is a more abundant material than lithium, and can be extracted from seawater rather than mined, making it much cheaper. The drawback with using sodium in batteries prior to now, is that it has around 20% lower power density than Lithium. Today’s batteries are all about power density, especially for applications like electric vehicles.

Previous tests have tried to use manganese to compliment the Lithium in the cathode, but the resulting material proved unusable. On this occasion, the researchers replaced the majority of the lithium cathode with sodium. They claim the results are promising, with a stable cathode, which keeps the energy density of Li-ion batteries, while being suitable for mass manufacture.

Hyperloop travel

There has been lots of media coverage on hyperloop transport since Elon Must proposed a route from San Francisco to Los Angeles that would take only 30 minutes. Now that dream could be one step closer due to a successful full-system test by US start-up, Hyperloop One. The test managed to get the shuttle up to 112 km/h in the test, which saw it coast above the tracks for just over 5 seconds. The company’s next target is to hit 400 km/h. The recent run tested the capabilities of the vehicles motor, brakes, levitation and vacuum pumps. 

Carbon nanotube oscillator

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have had almost as much press inches as the hyperloop. Are we getting any closer to seeing products using them out in the real-world? IBM thinks so - the company’s researchers had an article published in Nature Nanotechnology describing how they have now developed test hardware that can push a CNT-based processor to 2.8GHz. Although the processor is not commercially useful, the test does show that the technology is finally coming together and hopefully getting closer to consumers.

Matrix technology

Talking of futuristic technology, cybernetics could be taking a step closer as the US military announced that it was funding a $66m project that would allow the human brain to plug directly into a computer. Reminiscent of the Matrix movies, the project intends to give soldiers supersenses and boost brainpower, but there could be even more profound implications for disabled people. The technology could also be used to treat blindness and paralysis. 

PSD