Researchers have developed a new plastic electrolyte that is up to 10,000 times more powerful than existing batteries. The battery could be available within two years.
New Super Batteries Could Charge Your Phones In Seconds
In the latest models of smartphones, we’ve seen that the battery is one of the points where manufacturers have increasingly stressed. It is a bane of modern life, the beeping mobile phone about to run out of battery.
However, scientists claim that very soon smartphones might not need to be plugged in for hours, or you can say overnight. They made a groundbreaking discovery that could soon lead to smartphones being charged in seconds.
Researchers at the University of Surrey in collaboration with the University of Bristol have developed a new material which can be used to create batteries 1,000 – 10,000 times more powerful than existing batteries. Researchers also claimed that the batteries will be safer, and will be charged faster.
The developed material is a kind of polymer which is used to create a “supercapacitor” that stores a large amount of energy and charges very quickly. On the other hands, batteries can hold a large amount of energy but they take hours to charge. So, supercapacitor holds less energy and charge in seconds.
Dr. Brendan Howlin from Univerisity of Surrey said: “There is a global search for new energy storage technology and this new ultra-capacity supercapacitor has the potential to open the door to unimaginably exciting developments.”
Elon Musk has already predicted that large capacity supercapacitors can be very useful in electric cars which can help to refuel electric cars in minutes. Right now the university is looking for partners to create ultra-high-energy density storage devices and hopes to have a prototype by next year.
There is only one problem with supercapacitors they require frequent recharging. They might provide faster charging but will have a shorter overall life. Dr. Ian Hamerton from University of Bristol said:
“While this research has potentially opened the route to very high-density supercapacitors, these polymers have many other possible uses in which tough, flexible conducting materials are desirable, including bioelectronics, sensors, wearable electronics, and advanced optics. We believe that this is an extremely exciting and potentially game-changing development.”
So, what do you think about this technology? Share your views in the comment box below.