This smartphone battery prototype lasts for days and charges in seconds

Scientists at the University of Central Florida have developed a supercapacitor battery prototype that lasts over 20 times longer than a conventional lithium-ion cell and works like new even after being recharged 30,000 times.

 "You could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn't need to charge it again for over a week," says UCF postdoctoral associate Nitin Choudhary.

Supercapacitors can be charged quickly because they store electricity on the surface of a material, rather than using chemical reactions like lithium-ion batteries. 

The team at UCF wrapped 2D metal materials (TMDs) just a few atoms thick around highly-conductive 1D nanowires, letting electrons pass quickly from the core to the shell. That yielded a fast charging material with high energy and power density that's relatively simple to produce. "We developed a simple chemical synthesis approach so we can very nicely integrate the existing materials with the two-dimensional materials," Jung says.

The research is in early days and not ready for commercialization, but it looks promising. "For small electronic devices, our materials are surpassing the conventional ones worldwide in terms of energy density, power density and cyclic stability," Choudhary said.

Jung calls the research "proof-of-concept," and the team is now trying to patent its new process.

Source: University of Central Florida

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