Posted on 03/11/2009 4:41:38 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
The days of waiting hours to charge a mobile phone or laptop computer could soon be over because of research that could transform battery technology in as little as two years.
Scientists in the United States have invented a battery that can charge in seconds, promising a revolution in power storage that could also help green cars and renewable energy.
The advance allows lithium-ion batteries, the standard variety used in consumer electronics and cells for electric or hybrid vehicles, both to charge and discharge stored energy more quickly than at present.
This should lead to smaller, lighter batteries for mobile phones and other devices, which can be fully charged when plugged in for a few seconds.
The researchers, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have already made a small prototype cell that charges fully in 10 to 20 seconds, compared with six minutes for cells made in the standard way.
“If you can charge your phone in 30 seconds, that becomes a life changer,” said Gerbrand Ceder, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who led the research. “It could change the way we think about technology like this: you would literally be able to charge up while you stand and wait.”
The technology has been nicknamed the “beltway battery”, after the orbital motorway in Washington DC, because it uses a bypass system to let lithium ions that carry charge to enter and leave the battery more quickly.
(Excerpt) Read more at technology.timesonline.co.uk ...
6 minutes for the old batteries???
What is this dude talking about? Mine takes at least an hour to charge up.
Huh? Doesn't anyone sleep anymore? Most people who know, carry a spare charged phone battery.
When they can develop an electric car that.
1) can charge up in the same amount of time it takes to fill up a tank of gas,
2) it can go 300 or more miles between charges,
3) it cost no more than the average car of its size,
4) When the battery needs to be replaced, (and they all do) it will not cost me half the value of the car to do so,
5) It can pull a trailer or boat up hill without a problem, then and only then will I consider one.
I thought of trees as renewable.
But energy, isn't it converted & depleted?
Doesn’t eliminate the problem of which charger [cell phone, ipod, flashlight, electric screwdriver, kitchen mixer, radiocontrolled car, camera, Dremel tool...] to plug into what.
I’ll buy a battery powered car when the last drop of oil is squeezed out of the Continental Shelf and Alaska.
If they can discharge as quickly as they charge ... then you could get electrocuted!!!! We’d have to ban batteries.
“beltway battery”
Perhaps an unfortunate moniker.
That probably means the tax on it will cost the earnings of three generations of users while only having a lifespan of a year.
Not to mention the charger itself would be pretty dangerous if not properly used.
Most people who know, carry a spare charged phone battery.
Not folks that carry in iPhone, unless they also carry a putty knife.
Gee! They just re-invented the Capacitor.
6) Allows the vehicle to run A/C - important out here in Las Vegas!
Sounds good. I wouldn’t want smaller batteries, however. I still can’t charge it on a plane. I need a 3 or 4 hour life at a minimum. Cell phone... No problem. It already runs for more than a day on a charge.
Lithium batteries charge ahead
- Researchers demonstrate cells that can power up in seconds.
Nature News | 11 March 2009 | Geoff Brumfiel
Posted on 03/11/2009 1:43:13 PM PDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2204499/posts
if a 10 second new battery equals a 6 minute old battery, then a 1 minute new battery would equal an hour long old battery.
right?
More importantly...
7) allows the vehicle to run the heater in north dakota winter
If you say so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.