Without doubt batteries today on smart phones is a headache, with the current crop hardly lasting even half a day. Though we have been hearing about longer batteries with funny names like the Jelly battery, the fact remains that none have seen the light of the day.
Apparently, researchers at the Northwestern University are working on the electrodes of the existing Li-Ion batteries which would allow it to hold a charge of 10 times the current capacity. If that wasn’t sweet enough, lead researcher Harold H. Kung promises that the batteries would charge much faster than the existing lot and will be in a better shape even after using for over a year in comparison to the current batteries.
The trick lies in optimizing the performance of current Li-ion batteries to such extent lies in tweaking the anode. Current batteries have anode that use graphene, but if we replace them with silicon the performance would be much better. Though, the problem with using silicon is that the batteries would puff up when charged and slim down again on discharging, leading to fragmentations.
Hence Kung and his team applied an innovative solution to work around the issue. They simply sandwiched silicon sheets between graphene ones, thus eliminating the problem. They also drilled very minutes holes (about 20nm), which helped speed up the recharge process by up to 10 times.
Kung and his team at the northwestern university are looking to take the research to the next level and looking to make similar changes in the electrolytic solution and the cathode which would help further enhance the performance and efficiency of the battery. Not only that, they are also trying to develop an electrolyte that switches off at higher temperature thus eliminating battery explosion and fire incidents.
In case, you are interested to know the complete details about the research you can take a look at their research paper here.
Now since we know that it works, I hope to see a long lasting battery soon. We have people spending about $100 on their phone batteries. So the price would not be a real issue. Let’s wait and see how soon does one really come out.
