Groundbreaking new battery tech recharges in seconds

Posted by Al Warmington on Thu 12 Mar 2009

MIT scientists improve lithium battery 100-fold

A team of MIT scientists have invented a new battery technology that is able to recharge in mere seconds. Best of all, this breakthrough simply enhances traditional lithium batteries – the kind found throughout all manner of rechargeable tech, from mobile phones and MP3 players, up to electric cars – so there’s a much better chance of it actually reaching our pockets in the near future.

The MIT boffins discovered that changes to the surface of the lithium iron phosphate electrode allowed it to absorb ions 100 times faster than normal. The upshot: ultra-fast charging.

The report of their findings was published in Nature. “The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes," it concluded.

Finally, we’ll be able to crack a shiny new mobile out of its box and play with it straight away without having to wait forever for the battery to charge up. Fantastic.

There are other important connotations as well. For example, electric cars might actually become practical. At the moment, despite coming on leaps and bounds in terms of power and speed, the sheer amount of time required to recharge them is a huge obstacle to normal use. If you could fill up your tank in mere minutes, we might be able to wave goodbye to those nasty planet-killing petrol engines everyone seems to hate so much.

So when can we expect this wunder-tech to start heading to our mobile phones and portable gadgets? In as little as two years, the MIT team hopes. Bring it on.

Link: Nature [PDF] (via vnunet)