WASHINGTON — It’s one of the worst feelings in the world. You’re already running a few minutes late for a night on the town or a zoo day with the family, so you need to gather your things and hit the pavement.
And then you see it. A flashing red battery. Ten percent power.
Your phone is about to die.
And sadly, you don’t have options. There will be no mindless scrolling through Facebook for you today.
But there’s hopeful news. A reality where phones can be charged in one minute is on the horizon.
Scientists at Stanford University have created a prototype for an inexpensive battery that can offer quick charges that last, reports Stanford News.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most common battery in phones, but they present a fire hazard. But they’ve typically presented longevity that an aluminum-ion battery alone can’t provide.
Through what he says was an accident, Hongjie Dai, a chemistry professor at Stanford, said graphite was found to be a solution for the “positively charged cathode” part of the battery. This was combined with a “negatively charged anode” made from aluminum — a battery material with which everyone is familiar. Together, they were combined with an “ionic liquid electrolite.”
What all those science words mean is that the battery is safer.
“In our study, we have videos showing that you can drill through the aluminum battery pouch, and it will continue working for a while longer without catching fire,” says Dai to Stanford News. “But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner – in the air, the car or in your pocket. Besides safety, we have achieved major breakthroughs in aluminum battery performance.”
In some tests, the aluminum and graphite prototype was able to charge in as quickly as one minute.
The main concern with the curent prototype is the voltage. Right now, it gets about half that of a 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,” says Dai to the Standford News.
The new battery technology is still a ways off in terms of consumer availability. So, until then, bring an extra charger.
