A battery's hopping ions remember where they've been (IMAGE)

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A battery's hopping ions remember where they've been

Caption

Seen close-up, the flow of ions between battery electrodes is actually a series of erratic, atomic-scale hops. Experiments in a laser lab at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory showed that when shaken with a jolt of voltage, most ions briefly hopped backward to their previous positions before resuming their usual erratic journeys -- the first indication that they remembered, in a sense, where they had just been.

Credit

Greg Stewart/SLAC National. Accelerator Laboratory

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