Scientists claim to have battery that charges up to 70 percent in two minutes
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore say they have developed a battery that can be charged up to seventy percent in two minutes. In the long run, the battery would be especially useful for electric cars.
Electric cars are currently still subject to long charging times of a few hours. With the battery from Nanyang Technological University, that time should be reduced to twenty times. In addition, according to the researchers, the battery lasts longer. They claim that the battery can be charged up to 10,000 times, writes Phys.org. However, the capacity of the battery is not clear.
The researchers were able to shorten the charging time by replacing the negative part of graphite in regular lithium-ion batteries with a gel based on titanium dioxide. This substance speeds up the chemical reaction in a battery, which causes the battery to charge faster. Titanium dioxide would be easy to make and easy to implement in the existing battery production process, the researchers claim.
For now, the scientists are working on small batteries, but they want to make a larger battery based on the technology soon. The technique, which has since been patented, is said to have sparked interest from the industry. It is not entirely new, however: in June, engineers still managed to develop small lithium-ion batteries that could be charged in ten minutes.
The question is whether and when the technology will be made available to the masses. Battery technology is reaching its limits, which means that improvements in battery life, for example, lag behind improvements in performance, such as computing power. Although scientists are working hard on improvements, many ideas do not make it into practical applications in the short term.
Recently, researchers at Stanford University say they developed the ‘holy grail’ for battery technology. They claimed to have developed a stable anode made of lithium instead of graphite or silicon, using a protective carbon nanolayer.