I do research in Li-ion battery anodes. High performance materials with exceptional charge capacity, cycling capability, safety, and cost are frequently discovered, but the materials almost never have all of those properties at once, and that is essential to getting a product to market. Most of the new materials with high charge capacity or good cycling performance are very exotic, and thus it is too difficult or expensive to mass produce them.
In my opinion, hybrid Si/C anodes show the most promise as a material that would realistically be found in Li-ion batteries in the next decade. Nanowires/nanospheres do not seem as promising to me, unless we can find a way to cheaply produce them.
How expensive is too expensive? If you can increase a battery's lifespan by 100x, certainly there would be applications for it even if the production cost was 50x that of current tech. You'd still be doubling your lifetime value, right?
Lifetime value also depends on the rest of the device. Many devices also become obsolete at about the same time their battery reaches the end of its life. If the battery lasts 10 or 100 times as long as the rest of the device, the effort expended to extend its life may have been wasted.
Of course, if device manufacturers could be convinced to build devices around a small range of standard battery sizes, then maybe we could move to a Bring Your Own Battery model of powering our gadgets?
Most consumers probably want a thinner device however...
Agree. My current battery in my Macbook Pro reports 85-88% health. That's a significant loss but my laptop is long overdue for an update (when Apple will finally get of their ass and make a new MBP). Stopping the battery deterioration is neat but if it isn't cheap, it wouldn't be worth it.
I was thinking, in particular, of grid battery power. Even if the battery is 'dated' it's still useful, and it can just sit and do it's job. As long as it is cost-efficient when it is installed, it makes sense to install it.
In my opinion, hybrid Si/C anodes show the most promise as a material that would realistically be found in Li-ion batteries in the next decade. Nanowires/nanospheres do not seem as promising to me, unless we can find a way to cheaply produce them.