Researchers from the Nanyang Technical University in Singapore have developed a new version of the lithium ion battery. The battery can be charged up to 70 percent in as little as two minutes, and it will last longer than most batteries because it can handle over 10,000 charging cycles. According to the researchers, the battery lasts ten times longer than the current generation of lithium ion batteries. The researchers team replaced the graphite that is typically used in the negative pole in a lithium ion battery with a titanium dioxide gel. The material’s nanotube structure allows for the the chemical reactions that provide the ultra-fast charging. The researchers see the battery being used in electric vehicles. With the nanomaterial, cars would be able to increase their range based on five minutes of charging, which is a similar timescale to what filling up a gas tank. The next step is to build a large-scale prototype.
Source: Phys.org
