New battery that can charge mobile phones in minutes underway

When fully developed and launched, this new technology will be a big relief for mobile phone users in Nigeria where electricity power supply is still a very big issue. Called supercapacitors, the material, in the form of a wafer, can turn phone casings, car chassis and even walls into quick charging batteries.Researchers at Vanderbilt say […]

When fully developed and launched, this new technology will be a big relief for mobile phone users in Nigeria where electricity power supply is still a very big issue.
Called supercapacitors, the material, in the form of a wafer, can turn phone casings, car chassis and even walls into quick charging batteries.
Researchers at Vanderbilt say they have created the first working prototypes of the technology.
The wafers consist of electrodes made from silicon that have been chemically treated so they have nano scale pores on their inner surfaces and then coated with a protective ultrathin graphene-like layer of carbon.
Sandwiched between the two electrodes is a polymer film that acts as a reservoir of charged ions, similar to the role of the electrolyte paste in a battery.
When the electrodes are pressed together, the polymer oozes into the tiny pores in much the same way that melted cheese soaks into the nooks and crannies of artisan bread in a panini.
When the polymer cools and solidifies, it forms an extremely strong mechanical bond.
‘These devices demonstrate -for the first time as far as we can tell – that it is possible to create materials that can store and discharge significant amounts of electricity while they are subject to realistic static loads and dynamic forces, such as vibrations or impacts,’ said Cary Pint, one of the researchers.
 The new device that Pint and Westover has developed is a supercapacitor that stores electricity by assembling electrically charged ions on the surface of a porous material, instead of storing it in chemical reactions the way batteries do.
As a result, supercaps can charge and discharge in minutes, instead of hours, and operate for millions of cycles, instead of thousands of cycles like batteries.
‘When you can integrate energy into the components used to build systems, it opens the door to a whole new world of technological possibilities.
‘All of a sudden, the ability to design technologies at the basis of health, entertainment, travel and social communication will not be limited by plugs and external power sources,’ Pint said.
Supercapacitors store ten times less energy than current lithium-ion batteries, but they can last a thousand times longer – meaning they can be built into walls and chassis.
‘Battery performance metrics change when you’re putting energy storage into heavy materials that are already needed for structural integrity,’ said Pint.
‘Supercapacitors store ten times less energy than current lithium-ion batteries, but they can last a thousand times longer.
‘That means they are better suited for structural applications.
‘It doesn’t make sense to develop materials to build a home, car chassis, or aerospace vehicle if you have to replace them every few years because they go dead.’ (MailOnline)