FOR years, polystyrene foam has been keeping our coffee hot and our beer
cold. Now chemists have taught single molecules of this plastic a more
impressive trick—how to snatch and store energy from light in the way that
plants do.
The researchers, based as the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico,
are aiming to build a new breed of cheap polystyrene-based batteries. They say
the batteries could be used to provide power for anything from cars to
cellphones.
The project is part of continuing efforts by Tom Meyer and his colleagues at
Los Alamos to find simple materials…
