Nanotech scientists from UC Irvine have accidentally bumped into the discovery of a 200,000-cycle battery that lasts 400 times longer than an average lithium battery. The experiment aimed at making safer batteries and instead ended up making stronger ones.
Nanotechnology has done something amazing again. In a latest research, nanotech scientists accidently invented an astonishingly durable 200,000-cyle battery, which means it is virtually invincible to leakages, Popular Science reported. To be clear, the stamina to last 400 times longer does not mean the charge storage capacity, but its ability to resist losing this storage capacity over time.
Modern batteries used to power electronic devices use lithium as a core component to store charge, but it corrodes over time and loses its original capacity to hold the electric charge. In an experiment, UC Irvine's nanotech researchers substituted this lithium component with nanowires and found that after 200,000 recharging cycles, the experimental battery did not lose its integrity.
The corrosions were negligible, which consequently made the experimental battery 400 times more durable that its lithium counterpart. The nanotech solution may be a very long lasting, but it does not make a true battery. This is because the experimental battery of nanotech scientists lacked anode and cathode that traditional batteries use in practical devices.
It is worth mentioning that UC Irvine researchers did not originally intended to create a 200,000-cycle battery. The nanotechnology technique that could pave the way for 400 times more durable batteries was an accidental discovery that came as a plunder when the scientists were trying to make a solid-state battery.
Solid state batteries like lithium use a highly combustible liquid component that helps in storing charge. UC Irvine wanted to replace the liquid with a thick electrolyte gel to make safer batteries and as they did, the test showed that repeating charging cycles were not affecting the storage capacity of the battery.
The science behind this accidental technology is that gold nanowires were coated in manganese oxide with an additional protection of electrolyte gel. The gel and oxide of metal were interacting together in a way that was preventing the corrosion of underlying gold nanowires. The findings, published ACS Energy Letter, also showed that longer wires accounting for a larger surface area and thus more capacity to store electricity.
UC Irvine's nanotech scientists might have stumbled upon a formidable solution to lithium charge leakage. The research has increased the feasibility of 200,000-cycle batteries that can last 400 times longer. The following YouTube video by News Tech talks more on the story.