MIT scientists tout new, greener battery technology

A team of researchers at MIT have come up with an environmentally friendly way to generate electricity that harnesses heat but uses no metals or toxic materials.

The breakthrough is critical because most of the batteries that power everything from smartphones to computers are made of toxic materials like lithium, which can be difficult to dispose of and have a limited global supply. Lithium is also extremely flammable.

The breakthrough is based on a 2010 discovery by MIT’s Michael Strano, who found that a wire made from tiny cylinders of carbon known as carbon nanotubes can produce an electrical current when it is progressively heated from one end to the other "“ much as you would light a fuse.

Read FOX News article