Researchers Develop An Ultra-Fast Charging Battery That Charges 70% In Two Minutes

Tired of waiting for your phone to get enough charge before you leave the house? Nanyang Technological University Researchers have developed the best solution to your problem- a lithium ion battery that charges to 70 percent in just two minutes. The battery will also last for 20 years and will be available in the market within two years.

Image Credit Martin Maciaszek (taken from)

We are already using rechargeable lithium ion batteries in our laptops, mobile phones and tablets but they never last long. Most of them last for only two to three years which is around 500 recharge cycles. It also takes around two hours to fully charge them.

This new battery will drastically improve the charging process and you will be able to charge your phone while looking for your keys on your way out of the door. Electric vehicles will become a more viable option to fossil-fuel-powered cars since it reduces battery replacement costs and will allow drivers to recharge their vehicles in minutes.

In a press release, Professor Chen Xiadong, the lead study, said that “Electric cars will be able to increase their range dramatically, with just five minutes of charging, which is on par with the time needed to pump petrol for current cars. Equally important, we can now drastically cut down the toxic waste generated by disposed batteries, since our batteries last 10 times longer than the current generation of lithium-ion batteries.”

In the new developed battery, the scientists have replaced the traditional graphite that’s used for the anode (the negative pole) in the current lithium ion batteries, with a gel material they made from titanium dioxide.  Cheap, abundant and safe titanium dioxide is found in soil and is commonly used as an additive in food and in sunscreen lotions to help absorb harmful ultraviolet rays.

The titanium dioxide is transformed into tiny nanotubes which are a thousand times thinner than the diameter of a human hair. Chemical reactions that take place in the battery speed up and allow for superfast charging.   More energy is also packed into the batteries meaning that instead of the usual 500 charging cycles, the battery can now offer 10,000 cycles!

The new battery will also be cheap since titanium dioxide is not expensive and is readily available in soil. Details on how the titanium dioxide gel was formed are published in Advanced Materials. Technology to produce the batteries is already licensed and the scientists believe that in two years time, the batteries will be in the market.

We literally can’t wait!

Researchers Develop An Ultra-Fast Charging Battery That Charges 70% In Two Minutes