Green machine: 'Nano-flakes' to make better batteries for electric cars

"Splitting" into materials atom-thin nanosheets Could Lead to a range of new devices for Recovering energy from waste heat, as well as more Effective batteries and supercapacitors for electric cars.

Jonathan Coleman at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, Valeria Nicolosi at the University of Oxford and colleagues have Developed a simple technique to Create flakes of just a single atom or a few Atoms in Thickness from a range of Different multi-layered materials.

"Splitting" These materials into single layers CAN ENHANCE Their unique properties, Creating a "super" Such materials as are thermoelectric nanosheets That, Meaning They CAN generate energy from the waste heat in car Exhausts or power plant chimney stacks.

What's more, the team CAN Also Combine materials with Different Properties Together. So for instance, tungsten disulphide converts heat into Electricity, But is not good at this Conducting Electricity away Thurs Allow It To Be put Thurs useful work.

Adding a conductor Such as carbon nanotubes, HOWEVER, results in a hybrid material That Can Do Both, says Coleman. "You retain the thermoelectric properties, But the conductivity is Increased."