Your smartphone is incredible. It can guide you to that trendy new fusion restaurant if you are lost. It can play your favorite sitcom as you head to work on the train. It will play your favorite song at the touch of a button. But it can't do any of this if its battery is dead.
A Better Battery on the Way?
Thankfully, a better battery might soon be on the way, due to the work of a team of engineers at Chicago's Northwestern University. A recent story reports that researchers at this Big 10 university are attempting to produce a battery that lasts longer and can recharge itself in just minutes. Smartphone users across the country ought to be thankful.
Northwestern's researchers have found a method to extend the charge of lithium-ion batteries by more then 10 times the current lithium-ion battery life. They are even boasting that after 150 charges, which they believe represents about a year of operation, the new lithium-ion battery will be 5 times more efficient than batteries today.
A Charged Battery for a Week
In the end, this new cell phone battery could stay charged for an entire week, despite all the apps we use daily. And the charging time? Less than 15 minutes. That will sure make our lives easier, but more than that, this new battery technology could lead to smaller and more efficient batteries for electric cars. This could therefore, have a dramatic impact on our reliance on fossil fuels.
Batteries Powering Technological Change
While this new battery technology may have a huge impact on many aspects of our life, it will not be offered to the general public for three to five years, says Northwestern researchers. Batteries are often over looked when we think of innovative technologies, but the more we depend upon mobile devices the more important they become. Improvements in battery technology may in fact hold the key to an even greater technological movement.
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