this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 minutes ago

Is it also a room-temperature superconductor and a dessert topping?

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Abstract

Downsizing metal nanoparticles into nanoclusters and single atoms represents a transformative approach to maximizing atom utilization efficiency for energy applications. Herein, a bovine serum albumin-templated synthetic strategy is developed to fabricate iron and nickel nanoclusters, which are subsequently hydrothermally composited with graphene oxide. Through KOH-catalyzed pyrolysis, the downsized metal nanoclusters and single atoms are embedded in a hierarchically porous protein/graphene-derived carbonaceous aerogel framework. The carbon-supported Fe subnanoclusters (FeSNC) as the negative electrode and Ni subnanoclusters (NiSNC) as the positive electrode exhibit remarkable specific capacitance (capacity) values of 373 F g−1 (93 mAh g−1) and 1125 F g−1 (101 mAh g−1) at 1.0 A g−1, respectively. Assembled into a supercapacitor-battery hybrid configuration, the device achieves an excellent specific energy (47 W h kg−1) and superior specific power (18 kW kg−1), while maintaining outstanding cycling stability of over 12 000 cycles. Moreover, FeSNCs displayed a significantly reduced oxygen evolution overpotential (η10 = 270 mV), outperforming the RuO2 benchmark (η10 = 328 mV). Molecular dynamics simulations, coupled with density functional theory calculations, offer insights into the dynamic behavior and electronic properties of these materials. This work underscores the immense potential of metallic subnanoclusters for advancing next-generation energy storage and conversion technologies.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 minutes ago

bovine serum albumin-templated synthetic strategy

[–] THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 1 points 23 minutes ago

Herein, a bovine serum albumin-templated synthetic strategy is developed to fabricate iron and nickel nanoclusters, which are subsequently hydrothermally composited with graphene oxide.

Is this how Doom starts?

[–] roserose56@lemmy.zip 19 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

So the inventor gonna vanish and never hear about it again?

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 18 minutes ago

Well Edison is dead, but we do hear about him alot so I'm not sure what's going on.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 38 points 8 hours ago (4 children)

However, this technology does not yet match the energy density of lithium-ion batteries.

It would be good if you actually told us what that energy density is...

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 4 points 46 minutes ago

About tree fiddy

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 hour ago

Abstract

Downsizing metal nanoparticles into nanoclusters and single atoms represents a transformative approach to maximizing atom utilization efficiency for energy applications. Herein, a bovine serum albumin-templated synthetic strategy is developed to fabricate iron and nickel nanoclusters, which are subsequently hydrothermally composited with graphene oxide. Through KOH-catalyzed pyrolysis, the downsized metal nanoclusters and single atoms are embedded in a hierarchically porous protein/graphene-derived carbonaceous aerogel framework. The carbon-supported Fe subnanoclusters (FeSNC) as the negative electrode and Ni subnanoclusters (NiSNC) as the positive electrode exhibit remarkable specific capacitance (capacity) values of 373 F g−1 (93 mAh g−1) and 1125 F g−1 (101 mAh g−1) at 1.0 A g−1, respectively. Assembled into a supercapacitor-battery hybrid configuration, the device achieves an excellent specific energy (47 W h kg−1) and superior specific power (18 kW kg−1), while maintaining outstanding cycling stability of over 12 000 cycles. Moreover, FeSNCs displayed a significantly reduced oxygen evolution overpotential (η10 = 270 mV), outperforming the RuO2 benchmark (η10 = 328 mV). Molecular dynamics simulations, coupled with density functional theory calculations, offer insights into the dynamic behavior and electronic properties of these materials. This work underscores the immense potential of metallic subnanoclusters for advancing next-generation energy storage and conversion technologies.

[–] InnerScientist@lemmy.world 11 points 6 hours ago

Technically, a copper wire is a battery that charges in (a very tiny fraction of ) seconds.

[–] CptOblivius@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

Two important parts of a battery are how much energy it can store in a certain space and how much it weighs. If it is bigger and holds the same amount of energy that might be ok for a non mobile storage if it costs less, like a house. If it weighs more for a certain energy that wouldn't be useful for cars and mobile things but might be ok for small things where the weight is negligible anyway. For cars you want a small energy dense battery that is light as possible

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 23 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

And probably not at all practical.

[–] satanmat@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

Eeehhhhh — yeah

Aerogel. So not gonna be good for mobile applications— cars etc.

But might be workable for static applications????

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 69 points 18 hours ago (6 children)

We've been seeing claims like this for years and every time it's been total bullshit. 99.9% chance it is this time as well, but enjoy the thought experiment.

[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

Sometimes it's not pure bullshit, but instead intentionally misses details

Like articles going "new battery lasts 1000 years in one charge!" - which is true of Nuclear Batteries, because they give basically a maximum of 1 watt of energy per hour. (Which is useful for very specific purposes like a pacemaker)

[–] RaccoonBall@lemmy.ca 1 points 28 minutes ago (1 children)

Nitpick perhaps, but watts are not a unit of energy.

[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 minutes ago* (last edited 5 minutes ago)

Y'know, I had a feeling I put the wrong unit and then was like "nah... Sounds right", I should have went with my first instinct

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 17 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Are you saying Grandma’s a WMD?

[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 hours ago

Yes, yes I am

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 10 points 14 hours ago

Careful, 'Murica is gonna invade your grandma to bring democracy to her organs.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 39 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (13 children)

And yet we have somehow gone from rechargeable phone batteries that were about 3 times bigger than the phone I'm typing this on and had a capacity of about 500 mAh to where we are now with the battery that powers my phone being some small part of it and having a capacity of 3000 mAh, with only two major technology changes on the way. Meanwhile, we've been using the same technology for over a decade and the capability keeps getting better. I wonder why that is?

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[–] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The problem is that batteries must meet a whole set of other criteria as well to be competitive, for example cost and energy density. If they are not mentioned, they are probably worse in that aspect. Which just means they are still useful for some applications, just maybe not for cars, laptops or cellphones.

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 2 points 59 minutes ago

Abstract

Downsizing metal nanoparticles into nanoclusters and single atoms represents a transformative approach to maximizing atom utilization efficiency for energy applications. Herein, a bovine serum albumin-templated synthetic strategy is developed to fabricate iron and nickel nanoclusters, which are subsequently hydrothermally composited with graphene oxide. Through KOH-catalyzed pyrolysis, the downsized metal nanoclusters and single atoms are embedded in a hierarchically porous protein/graphene-derived carbonaceous aerogel framework. The carbon-supported Fe subnanoclusters (FeSNC) as the negative electrode and Ni subnanoclusters (NiSNC) as the positive electrode exhibit remarkable specific capacitance (capacity) values of 373 F g−1 (93 mAh g−1) and 1125 F g−1 (101 mAh g−1) at 1.0 A g−1, respectively. Assembled into a supercapacitor-battery hybrid configuration, the device achieves an excellent specific energy (47 W h kg−1) and superior specific power (18 kW kg−1), while maintaining outstanding cycling stability of over 12 000 cycles. Moreover, FeSNCs displayed a significantly reduced oxygen evolution overpotential (η10 = 270 mV), outperforming the RuO2 benchmark (η10 = 328 mV). Molecular dynamics simulations, coupled with density functional theory calculations, offer insights into the dynamic behavior and electronic properties of these materials. This work underscores the immense potential of metallic subnanoclusters for advancing next-generation energy storage and conversion technologies.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 122 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

Team expects, may be useful, could be used, prototype, are currently investigating and so on. Cool piece of technolgy, but no even mention when they'd expect that to be commercially available, if it's even possible to manufacture in commercial scale. Like many other new battery chemistries and technologies, it shows promise and makes a good headline, but at this point that's pretty much it.

[–] Pika@rekabu.ru 1 points 39 minutes ago

This is regular scientific hedging.

This thing, even if it turns out to be real good, it's years away from being a marketable product. And it's alright! It says more about sensationalism in scientific communication.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 52 points 23 hours ago

Eh, give em the clout they need to develop it further.

[–] suigenerix@lemmy.world 21 points 20 hours ago

To be fair, commercial long-life nickel-iron batteries are already being sold for grid storage. The main reason they aren't used more widely is they cost more up front.

That's ok, because they still cost less than alternatives over the full life span of the battery.

The risk is that the higher purchase cost required will likely be wasted as new battery tech surpasses it long before its life is over.

So for now, it's all about weighing opportunity cost, tech lock-in, and early obsolescence

[–] ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 23 hours ago

Well tbf this was a university lab which isn't focused on commercial production but just trying to prove their experiments

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 34 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Meanwhile my UPS taks 8 hours to charge and lasts 8 minutes.

[–] Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 17 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

UPS batteries are something i don't understand either. Why have they not changed with all the new tech we have now? Is it just still made of the best chemicals for their use and to then be recycled or something?

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 minutes ago

Many portable batteries (i.e. campsite batteries) have a UPS mode and can be used that way. Much more expensive though.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Maybe sodium ion will be a suitable replacement.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

UPS batteries need to be fully charged all the time. Lead acid batteries like to be fully charged. Lithium batteries need to be stored around 50% charge to have a long lifetime.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 1 points 6 hours ago

This is theoretically something sodium batteries would be good at right?

Aren't they not as sensitive to storage voltages? They are almost a perfect lead-acid replacement. Plus a UPS is a great usecase because it doesn't matter if it is 33% bigger to achieve the same capacity.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 19 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

Lead batteries are also cheap.

And mine take ~30 minutes to charge. This person may want to replace their batteries.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

They're also trustworthy, reliable technology. Why change what isn't broken?

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[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 5 points 14 hours ago

Yes, lead acid is very reliable and very recyclable.

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 36 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

The technology uses nickel and iron clusters smaller than 5 nanometers, meaning 10,000 to 20,000 clusters could fit within the width of a human hair. 

By using these dimensions, the researchers increased the electrode surface area, allowing almost every atom to participate in the chemical reaction. This efficiency enables the battery to reach a full charge in seconds rather than the seven hours required by historical versions of the technology.

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[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 24 points 20 hours ago

So a 3 megawatt charger can charge 50 kWh in one minute. That's some serious power.

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