Apple has adopted a warning to take a second approach. Rumors suggest that the iPhone 17 Air will have a battery capacity of around 2,900 mAh, which is a sharp drop in iPhone models, especially at the 6.6-inch screen size. However, the company is said to be using labor-saving tricks to ensure battery life is similar to other iPhones, including Apple’s more efficient C1 modem That’s iPhone 16e Earlier this year.
Luebbe declined to comment on whether the Group14’s silicon-carbon composite is used in the battery of the iPhone 17 Air; Sila Nanotechnologies and Enovix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What is capture?
The problem with silicon batteries is that they expand. When you rock generates silicon, Luebbe says it can expand its initial volume to triple. Lithium-ion batteries also expand; you may have heard of it or even experienced it because it can happen for a number of reasons. This means that there is a problem and that the battery is now a safety risk.
Researchers and companies have spent decades trying to solve this problem, and the solution lies in the carbon part of the name. It starts to become some technology here—every silicon anode company has its own proprietary process, but Lube said the Group14 approach starts with porous carbon materials.
“Imagine a carbon sponge, but the pores of that sponge are on a unit-wide molecule, and we’re talking about less than 10 nanometers,” he said. These pores are filled with silane gas (silicon), but only about halfway. The particles you have left are made up of silicon, carbon and space. As lithium ions pass through from the cathode to the anode and the silicon rock base, it expands to fill the space of the particles.
“It can alleviate the expansion at the level of particles, so the battery does not see expansion, so it can stabilize the battery and obtain a good cycle life,” Luebbe said. “This is the key insight in the invention: really learn how to internalize the expansion to isolate it from the chemistry and mechanical operation of the battery.”
Vincent Chevrier has been a researcher in silicon for 15 years and is Battery consulting firm Cyclikal. He said while silicon is a material used here in lithium-ion batteries, there are still some challenges of wider adoption, namely cost.
Companies like Group14 use Silane Gas instead of solid silicon, which has better battery performance, but may be 10 times the cost. This could make it more difficult to sell its composites to battery manufacturers and could drive the price of consumer electronics. Rumors say the iPhone 17 Air is priced at around $1,099, which is the $200 bump on the iPhone 16 and is expected to replace, although there are other factors that affect its price, such as tariff.
Chevrolet also said he often sees claims of silicon carbon manufacturers expanding energy density. For example, Group14 says on its website that its silicon battery can be delivered Up to 50% More energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries. However, if the material is only used to replace graphite, and there are too many other changes made through the battery, you are more likely to see a 10% increase in energy density as you switch to the silicon carbon anode. Redesign the battery battery and you can then see an increase of up to 30%.
