Silicon anodes will give lithiumion batteries a boost

There was a time when budding inventors were advised to build a better mousetrap. Nowadays, they'd do rather well to build a better lithiumion battery. These are what power our phones, laptops, portable power tools, an increasing number of cars, even homes. Some places are turning to giant lithium-ion batteries to store energy from solar panels so that it can be used after dark. While lithium-ion cells have gotten incrementally better over the years, they seem set for a big boost in 2019 through the increased use of an element not unfamiliar to the electronics industry: silicon.