Decent work at Stanford has yielded a lithium battery that can hold ten times the charge of a normal Li-ion battery. Your 2 hour laptop could last for 20 hours! Don't forget your cameras, cellphones, mp3s and electric cars.

Present Li-ion batteries use a carbon based anode to deposit the lithium on to hold the charge. Silicon anodes can hold ten times the amount of lithium, but in most shapes it degrades rapidly each recharge cycle due to expansion and contraction.

With nanotechnology, silicon nanowires can be made. The researchers say each wire is one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. Lithium is deposited on them during charging and they grow 400% without fracturing. A patent application was filed.

Source: news-service.stanford.edu