This is slick – much better batteries:

“[A] metal-air battery using an ionic liquid as its electrolyte not only functions significantly longer–because drying out is no longer a problem–but it also gets a big boost in energy density. “These liquids have electrochemical stability windows of up to five volts, so it allows you to go to much more energy-dense metals than zinc.” He says his research team will target energy densities of at least 900 watt-hours per kilogram and up to 1,600 watt-hours per kilogram in the DOE-funded project.”

This could have a groundbreaking effect on everything around us, from mobile devices to electric vehicles.

I remember John Dvorak complaining back in the 90s about how the last great innovation to ever achieve anything notable is mobile battery tech. Since then, there have been some improvements, but nothing on the leapfrog magnitude this promises.