THE ONE THING holding smartphones back and other similar devices is the battery life. The technology has improved immensely, but lithium-ion batteries have struggled to keep up.
Instead, developing a new type of battery could be the way forward.
Scientists from Stanford University have invented the first high-performance aluminium-ion battery that is not only fast-charging, but is also long-lasting.
The battery can be charged in one minute, is inexpensive (as aluminium is cheaper than lithium) and is flexible. Also, the materials used are safer than lithium-ion batteries, meaning the aluminium-ion won’t catch fire, making them a safer alternative.
The battery has a longer lifespan than traditional batteries, withstanding more than 7,500 recharge cycles without any loss of capacity.
The one major obstacle it faces is matching the voltage lithium-ion batteries offer. Currently, this aluminium-ion battery offers half the voltage you would get from a typical battery, but the researchers believe that this could be overcome.
Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford, told the Stanford News while improvements were needed to match the voltage, it has all the features a new battery requires.
“Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery, but improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density. Otherwise, our battery has everything else you’d dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It’s quite exciting.”
The paper will be published in the scientific journal Nature later this week.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say