Energy & Green Tech

Up to 30 percent more capacity for lithium-ion batteries

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and cooperating institutions studied structural changes during the synthesis of cathode materials for future high-energy lithium-ion batteries and obtained new major ...

Engineering

Researchers zoom in on battery wear and tear

From the moment you first use it, a new lithium-ion battery is degrading. After a few hundred charge cycles, you'll notice—your phone, laptop or electric car battery wears out more quickly. Eventually, it stops holding ...

Energy & Green Tech

Next generation anode to improve lithium-ion batteries

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have created a new silicon-tin nanocomposite anode that could lead to lithium-ion batteries that can be charged and discharged more times before they reach the end of ...

Energy & Green Tech

New anode material could lead to safer fast-charging batteries

Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered a new anode material that enables lithium-ion batteries to be safely recharged within minutes for thousands of cycles. Known as a disordered rocksalt, the new anode is made up of ...

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Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule where the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge.

Since protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged, if there are more electrons than protons, the atom or molecule will be negatively charged. This is called an anion (pronounced /ˈænaɪən/; an-eye-on), from the Greek ἀνά (ana), meaning 'up'.

Conversely, if there are more protons than electrons, the atom or molecule will be positively charged. This is called a cation (pronounced /ˈkætaɪən/; cat-eye-on), from the Greek κατά (kata), meaning 'down'.

An ion consisting of a single atom is called a monatomic ion. If it consists of two or more atoms, it is called a polyatomic ion. Polyatomic ions containing oxygen, such as carbonate and sulfate, are called oxyanions.

When writing the chemical formula for an ion, its charge is written as a superscript '+' or '−' following a number indicating the difference between the number of protons and the number of electrons. The number is omitted if it is equal to 1. For example, the sodium cation is written as Na+, the '+' indicating that it has one less electron than it has protons. The sulfate anion is written as SO42−, the '2−' indicating that it has two more electrons than it has protons.

If an ion contains unpaired electrons, it is called a radical ion. Just like neutral radicals, radical ions are very reactive.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA