I know I’m not the only one thats going crazy over the battery life of their phone being so short. But PRAISE THE LORD because researchers at UC Irvine just found out how to make a battery that lasts 400 times longer… by accident!
Researchers at UC Irvine invented a nanowire-based battery material that recharges itself hundreds of thousands of times without losing capacity. Depending on the costs, this breakthrough could mean mass produced batteries with significantly longer lifespans in computers, smartphones, cars, and so much more.
The mind behind the breakthrough is UCI researcher, Mya Le Thai. Mya coated gold nanowire running through the battery in a manganese dioxide shell and encases everything in an electrical conducting Plexiglas-like gel. Did I mention the gold nanowire is 10 times thinner than a human hair?!
In a report from UCI on the battery:
“Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” said Penner, chair of UCI’s chemistry department. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity.”
Other researchers have been messing around with nanowires for a while but the new use of protective gel in combination with the wiring is what separates UCI’s research from everyone else’s.
Mya tested the battery by cycling it 200,000 times over three months. There was no loss of capacity, no loss of power, and the gold nanowires never degraded. To put this into perspective, you’ll notice battery performance in a commercial battery decline significantly after about 6,000 cycles. Mya’s battery can go 200,000 cycles and not even degrade.
I’m excited to see this battery move forward to be produced on a mass scale because I know we’re all tired of seeing our iPhone battery on 20% after 2 hours.
Source: Popular Science
