credit: dearsomeone @ flickr

Anyone who has a smartphone that uses battery dizzying speed (HTC Desire HD, for the record), you probably found in the situation of going out at night and having to carry around the charger (which if you are a man is a big issue, since they do not even have a bag to put it). Here, if all goes well, within a maximum of 5 years we have superbatterie that are loaded in a flash to last week.

Word of Harold H. Kung, the engineer in charge of the research team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who has studied a new lithium ion battery from narcotic properties. "We found a way to extend the charge of a new model of lithium-ion battery up to 10 times," said Kung, on the occasion of the publication of the work in the journal Advanced Energy Materials "Even after 150 loadings, equivalent to a year of operation, the battery is still five times more effective alli-ion batteries on the market today. "

To understand how it was possible to conceive of such a superbatteria is useful to know some details about the method of chemical loading of lithium ion batteries. This type of battery uses a chemical reaction in which the lithium ions move from one end of the battery. As the battery is being used, the lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode, and then reverse the route during the loading process. When a battery is charging, the ions are positioned within the graphene layers constituting the anode. The team of Kung has developed a new type of anode that integrates graphene layers, and silicon, this is because the silicon atoms allow to accommodate a greater number of ions, and then to increase the charging time. In addition to this, researchers have dedicated themselves to drill tiny holes in graphene (by using an oxidation process) to provide a shortcut to the ions to the inner layers, thus greatly speeding up the loading process.

In short, such a solution would revolutionize the use of devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and more distant future, electric vehicles. Still have not made ​​specific notes about possible manufacturing costs, but judging from the materials used and the process quite simple to get the new properties (with silicon experiments are conducted for years, but only now have begun to yield results ), it is likely that you will not have borrowing for equip your laptop with a weekly charge.

Put in cold champagne, though, because according to forecasts this superbatteria Kung and associates will not come on the market before the other 3 or 5 ann.