Batteries could soon need to be charged less often thanks to a chance discovery.
Accumulators are one of the most important foundations of our modern society. Imagine a world without it, or at least what it would be like if we didn’t have lithium-ion technology to fall back on. Smartphones as we know them would be completely unthinkable. We don’t even need to dream of e-mobility.
But the latter in particular is a good example of the limits we are now reaching. Because the built-in lithium-ion batteries typically only last a few hundred kilometers. To compensate for this, they would have to be larger and thus significantly heavier. However, that doesn’t pay off. It’s similar with smartphones, no device lasts more than a few days under normal usage conditions.
More exciting
Your next monitor or television could be made out of rice
Lithium sulfur instead of lithium ions
However, researchers at Drexel University in Philadelphia seem to have made a breakthrough. And more or less by pure coincidence. Instead of using lithium-ion batteries, they experimented with lithium-sulphur batteries. The latter promise an up to three times higher energy density (via Freekthink).
Batteries could last up to three times as long or be correspondingly smaller and lighter. However, the technology has a catch: the batteries cannot be charged nearly as often because so-called polysulfides form over time.
The scientists therefore wanted to try to reduce the formation of polysulfides, which ultimately limit the charging cycles. However, they accidentally discovered a chemical phase during their experiments (via Nature), which is a special state of stability that should not actually be reached at room temperature.
The remarkable thing about it: The researchers were able to charge the accumulator a total of 4,000 times without losing capacity. This means that regular lithium-ion batteries are at least twice as powerful. There is even another important advantage: The lithium-sulphur batteries are safer than their lithium-ion brothers.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha in Test
Gaming headset with an insane 300 hours of runtime?
However, there is a dark side to all of this: It is not yet clear to scientists how this phase was reached. It is still pending research. Nevertheless, the results are not only promising, they are downright sensational.
Longer-range cars, possibly even electric airplanes, and longer-lasting smartphones all seem within reach. In any case, we are very excited!
how do you see it? Are you expecting new and better batteries in the near future, or have you already read too many sensational reports about them? Feel free to write it in the comments!
