Battery of the future will charge in minutes and last for years

One of the most frustrating components on our modern smartphones is its battery. It never lasts as long as you want it to, and charging it can take hours when you just don't have the time to spare. But what if your battery can quickly recharge to 70% full in two minutes. Also imagine a battery lasting up to 20 years instead of days.

This miracle lithium ion battery may soon become a reality, thanks to the work done at the Nanyang Technology University. Developers are using titanium dioxide nanotubes anode instead of the usual graphite anode and speeding up the chemical reactions inside the cell to achive these outcomes.

This allows the battery to offer 10,000 charging cycles as opposed to the usual 500. And these smaller titanium tubes are cheap and easy to make. The material is found naturally in soil and is commonly used as a food additive or to absorb UV rays in sunscreens. Converting the titanium dioxide from its spherical shape into the thin nanotubes (a thousand times thinner than the diameter of a human hair) is what allows the chemical reactions to run faster.

The new cells could be ready to hit commercial markets by 2016. According to one estimate, the market for lithium ion batteries will be $23.4 billion in two years. These longer-lasting batteries should find a home in smartphones and could make it easier for you to hold on to that handset that you've had for a couple of years, that you don't want to send back to the manufacturer for a new battery.

The technology has already been licensed, and will eventually go into production.

The team at NTU that is working on the new battery cell

source - NTU | Engadget