Have you ever needed your smartphone only to discover that the battery has died and you are nowhere near an outlet? It’s irritating, but in a couple of years, it could be a thing of the past.
A Better Battery on the Way?
Luckily, a better battery might soon be on the way, due to the efforts of a team of engineers at Chicago’s Northwestern University. A recent story reports that researchers at this Big 10 university are attempting to develop a battery that lasts longer and can recharge itself in mere minutes. Smartphone users across the country ought to be grateful.
What they are concentrating on is a new lithium-ion battery that has more then 10 times the life of current batteries. Moreover, after a year of operation, which the researchers estimate to be about 150 charges, these new lithium-ion batteries would continue to be 5 times more efficient then today’s lithium-ion batteries.
A Charged Battery for a Week
In the end, this new cell phone battery could stay charged for an entire week, even with all the apps we use daily. And the charging time? Below 15 minutes. Which will sure make our lives easier, but more than this, this new battery technology could lead to smaller and more efficient batteries for electric cars. This could therefore, have a dramatic effect on our reliance on fossil fuels.
Batteries Powering Technological Change
The new battery technology isn’t available yet for consumers, however the Northwestern researchers say that it could hit the market in 3 to 5 years. This is a big step. When we look at developments in technology, we often ignore the batteries that power our latest gadgets. Battery constraints are one of the factors holding back an even greater technology revolution. The hope is that the research done at Northwestern University can change this.
Take IT Away 