A better and greener battery is here! Scientists working at Stanford University have developed aluminum-ion batteries that fully charge in an ultra-fast 1-minute. They are safer and longer-lasting than today's batteries.
The scientists' research has been published in the latest edition of the journal Nature. They accidentally discovered while conducting research that the top material for a battery's cathode would be graphite.
An ion is an atom that is electrically charged. On the other hand, the cathode is the part of the battery that receives a negative electric current.
Hongjie Dai, chemistry professor at Stanford, announced in an official statement that his team had developed a new rechargeable aluminum battery that could "replace" existing batteries. He compared them to alkaline batteries that are "bad" for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries that sometimes explode "into flames."
The new aluminum-ion battery has several benefits, such as charging as quickly as one minute.
Another advantage is that the battery is more long-lasting than today's cellphone and laptop batteries.
The new Stanford battery can last for 7,500 charge cycles, compared to a lithium-ion battery's mere 1,000 charge cycles, according to CBS San Francisco. This is also incredibly over 70 times more charge cycles than the first aluminum batteries.
The lithium-ion batteries have virtually replaced the alkaline types. However, they are unable to meet the demands of today's constantly changing energy needs, according to Engadget.
The Stanford researchers said that they still need to boost the voltage of the aluminum-ion battery. It now only generates about 2V (volts), which is much less than the 3.6V of lithium-ion batteries.
Still, the new aluminum-ion battery already provides several key benefits over current batteries. Dai explained the dawn of the new battery as "quite exciting."