For the successful takeover of alternative energy over conventional sources of energy we need a good battery technology too for power storage. The devices we want to keep on using need to be recharged. And we all know that recharge takes hours whether it’s our mobiles or laptops. If the researchers from MIT has implemented the know-how of these lithium-ion batteries, successfully then our waiting hours for recharge will be over.
This breakthrough can be achieved in two years. MIT scientists are hopeful that this battery can recharge a device in seconds. Gerbrand Ceder, who is the professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said, “If you can charge your phone in 30 seconds, that becomes a life changer.” He also explains, “It could change the way we think about technology like this: you would literally be able to charge up while you stand and wait.”
This development can transform the power storage technology and can help hybrid cars or electric cars and give the necessary push to renewable energy. This expertise can reduce the weight and size of the batteries and our devices can be charged within few seconds.
The researchers, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have already made a small prototype cell that charges fully in 10 to 20 seconds, compared with six minutes for cells made in the standard way. The researchers are of the view that this technology will be available commercially within two to three years, because they are not using some new material. They have also nicknamed this technology as the “beltway battery”, after the orbital motorway in Washington DC. His lithium-ion battery utilizes a bypass system that allows the lithium-ions to enter and leave the battery speedily. The scientists discovered that by coating particles of lithium iron phosphate in a glassy material called lithium pyrophosphate, ions behave differently. These ions can bypass the channels and move more quickly. As we are acquainted with the fact that rechargeable batteries store up and discharge energy as charged atoms, known as ions, from between two electrodes called the anode and the cathode. Their charge and discharge rate are restricted by the speed with which these ions move.
If MIT scientists successfully complete this project for commercial use, we can charge electric car batteries in less than one hour. Till now recharging is one of the greatest hurdles for mass production of electric cars. Solar and wind energy generation can also be benefited with this breakthrough. This lithium-ion battery can be utilized for storage of excess energy.