|
NEW PLASTIC BATTERY IS LIGHT AND TOUGH
By Nancy Cook Lauer
FSU Communications Group
Drop by drop, Leigh-Ann Jack carefully portions a clear liquid from a bottle into a glass beaker. Her movements are slow, almost otherworldly, as she holds the eyedropper through the rubber gloves that reach to her armpits and protrude into the air-tight box holding the chemicals and the beaker.
Jack, a chemical engineering and chemistry major, is one of several Florida State students taking advantage of an unusual partnership between the university and a private research company. The partnership is breaking new ground in materials research and giving undergraduate students both practical experience and a little extra cash.
The joint venture between the private firm, Skylab Technologies Group, and FSU's Center for Materials Research and Technology (MARTECH) has as its goal the development of a battery - one that looks more like a plastic business card and is lighter, leak-proof and more durable than today's batteries.
FSU provides the specialized equipment and expertise while Skylab supplies the materials, the idea and the students' pay.
"It's exciting to work on something that's cutting edge and that has an impact on society," said Don McCorquodale, a senior chemistry major.
"It's great," agrees Jack. "The subtle changes I see in developing this technology and how much the performance can be altered by simple changes is amazing."
Jack and McCorquodale were the first two students to work on the project, but they aren't the last. Jack has since been joined by Aracely Gomez, a senior chemistry major.
The undergraduates have been combining compounds in an airtight lab table that allows the gloved workers to work with what Skylab's Scott Gustafson calls his "secret formula." The air-sensitive liquid then is mixed with carbon powders into a slurry that forms layers of a polymer, sort of a "high tech bologna sandwich," as Gustafson puts it.
"It's what's called in the industry a 'sexy technology,' very cutting-edge," said Gustafson, who is Skylab's director of research. "We're close to a true prototype of the product. It's very user-friendly, very flexible. When you think two-thirds of the weight of a cell phone is the battery, and here we've made it much lighter, we've made it a plastic so you don't have to put it in a can anymore. Punch a hole in it, it keeps working. Cut it in half, it keeps working."
Chemistry professor Joseph B. Schlenoff agrees the product is exciting, and he's equally enthusiastic about the opportunities for his students.
"Not a lot of high-tech companies are using undergraduates in university settings," Schlenoff said. "It isn't too often when you have industry coming in and establishing a cooperative relationship where undergraduates can work like standard part-time employees, but it certainly could become a model."
The researchers are in talks with a major battery manufacturer and hope to have a prototype completed by fall.
"It's kind of a natural," said Gustafson. "Hopefully the students will come work for us when they graduate. FSU benefits, as well. They have basic scientific research but we're more work specific. We have this product."