I’m not one for physical augmentation so if a person was suffering from feelings of inadequacy I’d recommend some soul searching. Batteries on the other hand have proven vastly inadequate for our technological needs and all the soul searching in the world isn’t going to help so… get some silicon implants!

Two research teams working independent of one another have found ways to augment current battery technology with Silicon to up capacity 10 fold. The process involves replace the graphite anodes with silicon, a configuration that allows the batteries to hold more Lithium, and thus more energy.

The first team led by professor Yi Cui at Stanford University is utilizing silicon nanowires and first published their results Journal Nature Nanotechnology almost a year ago. More recently the team led by led by Professor Cho Jae-phil, of Hanyang University in South Korea, have claimed to make Lithium batteries 90% efficient.

The implications of this break through will mean smaller more portable devices and even more importantly more effective and efficient solar technology. There is no set date from either team of when this technology will come to market, but Cui told ZDnet that we should see this in commercial applications within a couple years.

Thanks to Henry from HallyuTech.net for the tip!

Sources: 1, 2, 3
Image Source: Flickr