New type of lead acid battery: with silicone wafers

Just to be clear, they're talking about silicon wafers, not silicone wafers. The chemicals have vastly different properties, despite their names only differing with a final letter e. A crystal of silicon forms the substrate that solar cells and computer chips are made on; it is a stiff and brittle material. Silicone, on the other hand, is the rubbery stuff used as a sealant or for flexible spatulas and bowl scrapers.