Stanford Creates Aluminum Phone Battery that Charges in 1 Minute

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><div xmlns='http://bit.ly/16Db7GR'><br /><h3><img alt="Aluminum-ion Battery" height="153" src="/files/u69/aluminum-ion_battery.jpg" style="float: right;" title="Aluminum-ion Battery" width="228"/>Aluminum-ion battery offers several advantages to lithium-ion and akaline</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>It seems that we're always learning about promising new battery technologies, most of which make big claims but are years from becoming a mainstream product, if it even gets that far. So, we're a little jaded. We're also admittedly excited about a new <strong>aluminum-ion battery prototype developed by researchers at Stanford</strong>. Among the battery's many benefits, it's capable of fully recharging a smartphone in only a minute.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>This isn't the first time a laboratory has created an aluminum battery, though in other cases, they usually died after just 100 charge-discharge cycles. The Stanford-created battery was able to withstand over 7,500 cycles without any loss of capacity, whereas most lithium-ion batteries last 1,000 cycles. According to the researchers who created it, this is the first time an ultra-fast aluminum-ion battery was constructed with stability over thousands of cycles.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Aluminum-ion cells are cheaper lithium-ion. They're also not as flammable and have a high storage capacity, all of which are reasons that researchers have spent decades trying to develop affordable aluminum-ion batteries that meet the needs of consumers.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>One of the challenges has been finding materials that can produce enough voltage after multiple charge and discharge cycles.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>"People have tried different kinds of materials for the cathode," <a href="http://ift.tt/1DUou2O" target="_blank">said Hongjie Dai</a>, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. "We accidentally discovered that a simple solution is to use graphite, which is basically carbon. In our study, we identified a few types of graphite material that give us very good performance."</p><br /><br/><br /><p><iframe src='http://ift.tt/1CMAph5' width='620' height='349' frameborder='0'> </iframe> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>Aluminum-ion batteries are also flexible, and they don't explode or catch or fire when punctured. So with all that aluminum-ion has going for it, what's the hold up? Voltage.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The prototype produces around half the voltage of a standard lithium-ion battery. However, the researchers who built it say that it's simply a matter of improving the cathode material.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>"Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting," Dai added.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="http://ift.tt/18klLBK" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="http://ift.tt/JQbG2k" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://ift.tt/LtkyaS" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </em> </p><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/> </div><br /><br/><br /><br/><br />from http://bit.ly/1a24SNR<br/></div>

Stanford Creates Aluminum Phone Battery that Charges in 1 Minute

Aluminum-ion battery offers several advantages to lithium-ion and akaline It seems that we're always learning about promising new batter...

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