New Battery Technology Will Give Smartphone Users Twice the Charge

An MIT spin-off company, SolidEnergy, is well on their way to distributing a battery that can pack in the same amount of energy as the conventional lithium-ion battery in half of the space. This concept is far from a new one, researchers and scientists have been working to build a better battery for years with this technology. It seems that some were finally successful.

Instead of the carbon anodes of the typical battery, lithium metal batteries use lithium metal to create the anodes. This was actually part of the problem with developing these batteries--lithium has a greater resistance than carbon, which isn’t a great feature in a battery, and they had an unfortunate tendency to form filaments between the anodes, causing them to overheat and short-circuit. Other variations wouldn’t work without being at a temperature of 175 degrees Fahrenheit, which is impractical, to say the very least.

However, there has been a breakthrough: by coating the lithium foil with a solid electrolyte coating, the battery can now function properly, and because of the electrolyte used, the short-causing filaments no longer form. This combination of features allows for a battery that’s half the size of the typical lithium cell, but still packs the same punch.

Putting these batteries into implementation, SolidEnergy plans to launch by releasing drone batteries in November, and creating commercial batteries for consumer electronics in 2017, eventually developing batteries for electric-powered vehicles. If these batteries prove to be as effective as advertised, the electric cars they power could conceivably double in range on a single charge.

With so many mobile devices relying on battery power, and so many business relying, in turn, on these devices, the business ramifications could be huge. With increased battery capacity, mobile devices could be used for longer, or power more resource-intensive applications for greater times. Both of these improvements would certainly be useful in a business setting.

Which of your devices would you be most interested in seeing this sort of battery developed for? Is this an upgrade you feel is worth whatever cost will be associated with it? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to keep checking back to the SCW blog.