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Researchers at Stanford have managed to improve the Li-ion batteries making them capable to operate 10 times more.

For example, a battery that now lasts up to 2 hours in working time will operate for up to 20 hours.

These new batteries use Li-Ion and anodes with silicon nanowires, replacing the standard carbon.
According to Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, the researchers’ team leader, these batteries will be produced in mass very soon, due to the mature infrastructure behind the silicon.

Li-Ion batteries have a battery anode made from carbon and their life lasts until the electrical storage capacity is consumed, this depending on the amount of Lithium held in the battery’s anode, while the silicon has a higher capacity than carbon.

The drawback here is that as the silicon swells by absorbing positively charged lithium atoms during charging, and shrinks while in use, this affects the performance of the battery.
Cui’s solved this problem by using the nanotechnology.

The lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires with diameters of 1/1000 of the thickness of a sheet of paper, and as the nanowires inflate 4 times their normal size as they soak up lithium, they won’t fracture.

The systems that will implement this technology will include notebooks, iPods, mobile phones and video cameras.
You can read more here.