Keeping your device alive is a very important practice in our technological world. However, it often takes too long to charge a battery. One team of scientists are doing their best to shorten battery charge times down to the bare minimum.
A team of scientists submitted a report in Nature saying that they invented a low-cost practical aluminum battery for use in smartphones that can be charged in as little as one minute. The researchers also claim that this aluminum battery is safer than lithium ion batteries and that it could be used to replace the millions of lithium-ion batteries in our smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Researchers have been experimenting with an aluminum battery for a long time since it's a cheap metal that also has a strong charging capacity. However, all previous attempts failed. The research team from Stanford University thinks it has found a solution.
The team made a breakthrough by accidentally discovering that graphite made a good partner to aluminium, Stanford said in a statement. In a prototype, aluminium was used to make the negatively charged anode while graphite provided material for the positively charged cathode. Not only did this battery model hold a charge, but a full charge took less than a minute. This particular battery was also durable and flexible. When the team drilled into the battery, it didn't explode. While lithium-ion batteries last about 1,000 cycles, the new aluminium battery was able to continue after more than 7,500 cycles without loss of capacity. It also can be bent or folded, reports the team.
If all reports are correct, and the team's battery is as reliable as it says, then it could provide a safer alternative to the lithium ion battery's grip on the tech market.
