charge a battery in just six minutes - lithium ion rechargeable battery
Duncan Graham
The RoweA rechargeable battery is fully charged in only 6 minutes, today's charging time is 10 times as much as it is now, and can provide up to three times as much power as it is promised by the Nevada laboratory.
New batteries are urgently needed.
Neuneuneuvo, Nokia's chief technology expert, warned last year that batteries could not meet growing energy demand
Plug the function into the mobile device (
Print edition of "New Scientist", February 28, 2004).
The highest energyper-
The weight ratio in the battery today is provided by Lithiumion (Li-ion)batteries.
In terms of the energy provided per unit weight, they are also cheaper than alternative batteries such as nickelmetal-hydride (NiMH)and nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd)types. But Li-
There are also disadvantages of ion batteries.
They end up wearing out and they can't release energy quickly enough for applications that require surge, such as camera flash and power tools.
They may be able to do it soon.
Renault's Altair technology has created a new type of Li-
An ion battery with an unusually high surface area of the anode.
This allows the electronics to quickly enter and leave it-making fast charging possible and providing high current when needed.
Li-
The ion battery works by forcing the lithium ion in the lithium cobalt oxide cathode to migrate to the carbon anode through an electrolyte solution.
The patented transformation of Altair is to manufacture the anode surface with titanium lithium nanoparticles, using chemical techniques to make its surface area about 100 per gram, compared to 3 per gram of carbon emission area.
For commercial reasons, the company maintains a chemical reaction that allows it to be so close to the chest.
But patents (US 6689716)
It is revealed that in the manufacture of titanium lithium crystals, an increase in surface area is achieved using a carefully controlled sequence of evaporation steps.
The high current that this modified electrode can carry means power-
The hungry device can be installed on the phone so far, but has been rejected.
For example, the camera phone may now have enough capacity to run the flash.
The battery also has other advantages, Altai said.
The crystal surface of the carbon anode is vulnerable to repeated temperature changes that occur when the battery is used and charged.
This limits its life to around 400 charging cycles.
Roy Graham, development director at Altair, said the more solid titanium lithium anode should be able to charge the battery 20,000 times.
Longer life span should also be better for the environment, he said.
"The continued use of contaminated cobalt oxide is questionable.
"Altair plans to develop power tool batteries, and so far, power tools need more expensive Ni-
Cd or NiMH batteries provide the high current required for these devices.
The company wants to license its technology to major batteries
Manufacturers, who can bring the device to market within two years.
Altair says it ultimately wants to produce batteries for a variety of devices from mobile phones to hybrid cars.