The latest 20 inventions about batteries change the technology in the future

While people are witnessing the constant growth of wearable smartphones, smarthome and electronic devices over the years, it is paradoxically sad that the battery industry has remained on the ground for decades. . However, a series of recent battery studies may change this situation. Please also find out.

20 battery inventions will change the future of technology

The leap in mobile technology has been recognized for the past 20 years. From the bulky, rugged phone today has been replaced by ultra-compact smartphones that we always carry with us. Developers are constantly optimizing the operating system, software to enhance the user experience. However, the battery life of the device is a completely different story.

That story is always an obsession with electronic devices . While we are increasingly possessing super fast, powerful and smart devices, the need to use them is much higher so it requires devices to consume a lot of power. But battery technology at the present time cannot meet this requirement.

The worry of running out of batteries will disappear when the following technologies "get on the floor".

And then in the past few years, the technology world has seen a series of revolutionary researches on energy storage coming from universities and research institutes. Technology companies and car manufacturers are also spending a lot of money on this game.

The following article summarizes the most feasible studies and inventions that will assume the role of a new energy source for future technology equipment.

1) Charge 60-second aluminum-ion super speed

Stanford University scientists have developed a new battery using aluminum and graphite cells (Aluminum graphite) that can charge smartphones in about a minute.

The combination of aluminum and graphite will make them more efficient, longer and safer. However, the prototype of the Aluminum-ion battery in the lab produced twice as much power as the traditional Lithium-ion battery. Specifically, the average electrical energy density per kilogram on a Lithium-ion battery is 100 watts, and for Aluminum-ion only fluctuates within 40 watts.

Stanford University's research team is optimistic that this problem will soon be overcome.

2) Battery Alfa - stay for 14 days and work with water

A breakthrough in Aluminum batteries - the air provides 40 times the capacity of a Lithium-ion battery.

This battery can be recharged by immersion in water . Each time such a operation can be operated for 14 consecutive days. Battery capacity is 8100 watts / kg, 40 times more than lithium-ion. Incredible!

According to its owner, Fuji Pigment (Japan), the product will be released later this year. We hope to see the presence of this battery on electric vehicles soon - by using the existing fire sprinklers at gas stations to recharge the vehicle.

3) Elastic battery

A research group at Arizona State University has successfully developed a stretchable battery for smart watches and wearable electronics. Its idea stems from the discipline of arranging Japanese Kirigami art paper (a variation from Origami).

The battery is made of a mortar consisting of graphite and Lithium cobalt dioxide, which, when combined, are capable of storing and discharging electricity. Using the technique of applying this mortar to Kirigami shaped aluminum foil, this battery can be easily flexed to integrate into wearable devices. Further, they can weave this battery into clothing to serve the need to monitor user health.

Ideas from Japanese paper folding art

The team said the battery was able to operate the Samsung Gear 2 watch after being stretched. Before the rapid development of wearable flexing devices like this, the opportunity for stretching batteries is huge in the near future.

4) Energy from the surface of human skin

Utilizing the power of friction, a device developed by the National University of Singapore (NUS) can fully harness the electrical energy from human skin . This energy is enough to light 12 LED bulbs.

This means that it is no longer necessary to use batteries for wearable devices or smart clothes in the future.

How does it work? An electrode used to collect current is a 50nm thick silver foil . On the surface of the paper contains thousands of ultra-sized silicone cells that increase the area of ​​skin contact surface.

When the user moves, the source of mechanical energy due to friction with the skin is converted into electrical energy and the energy collected will be stored in the form of foil.

5) Charge backup Lumopack - refill iPhone for 6 minutes

If there are products that only need 6 minutes to fully charge and provide enough battery for an iPhone, will you try it? Lumopack is such a product.

Using Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF) technology and operating with a capacity of 140W, Lumopack can refill itself in 30 minutes, fully load smartphones from 6-9 minutes. Built-in battery cells have the ability to maintain performance after more than 1000 charging cycles, 2-3 times higher than current technology standards.

The product is currently raising funds on Kickstarter and you get a 35% discount when contributing 69 USD (1.5 million) to the project. If you spend an additional $ 10, you will also receive additional charging cables and protection accessories. Product shipped in October.

6) The 'jigsaw' battery of Jenax J.Flex

At the Wearable Expo electronics show earlier this year in Tokyo, the Korean company Jenax introduced a battery that can be bent, folded, or rounded like paper, named J.Flex , similar. As the study is mentioned in section 3. However, the advantages of J.Flex are more water resistant.

J.Flex has passed safety tests - it has been folded over 200,000 times without any effect on performance.

7) Charge the battery through the air Ubeam

New discoveries from startups called uBeam allow you to charge devices like wireless chargers without necessarily putting two devices close together. uBeam uses ultrasound to transmit power . Electric energy is converted into sound waves to be transmitted, and then converted back into electrical energy when it reaches the receiving device.

uBeam was casually developed by a 25-year-old graduate student - Meredith Perry. To realize this technology, she founded Ubeam and developed battery charging technology through 5 mm thick transmitters . These transmitters can be attached to the wall, integrated into the interior decorations, to be able to generate electricity to smartphones, tablets or laptops.

Currently Meredith's company is providing this solution for cafes, restaurants, and hotels.

8) Energy from fog

This new battery technology is being studied by scientists at MIT and has had initial success in finding ways to absorb energy from the mist in the air.

This power generating device uses alternating flat metal plates to generate electricity from mist particles in the air. The initial test of the researchers showed that the device could produce a small amount of energy about 15 picowatt. But according to Nenad Milijkovic, the head of the project, this energy level could increase to about 1 microwatt in the future.

The amount of electricity generated in the study initially is not too large, certainly cannot replace the current power sources. But this source of electricity will be very important and necessary in remote, remote areas.

9) StoreDot - charge for 30 seconds

StoreDot super-fast charging technology developed by Nano technology department at Tel Aviv University (Israel), can work with all smartphones today. Previously, the first public test was successfully performed by the group on Samsung Galaxy S4 with integrated standard battery.

To get such a fast charging speed, the charger has been integrated with the specialized StoreDot technology , which consists of a bio-semiconductor compound made of natural organic compounds Peptides - short amino acid chains, Protein constitutes.

The cost of producing StoreDot costs 20 USD (about 400,000 VND) and will be commercialized in 2017.

10) Solar charging

Alcatel has demonstrated mobile charging technology in sunlight thanks to a transparent background placed on the screen.

Developers believe that such a method of energy generation will solve the problem of battery depletion anytime, anywhere, as long as there is light.

However, Alcatel representative said it had no intention of launching a smartphone using a solar-powered charging platform. They need more time to develop and ensure that the platform works well, without problems.

11) Wireless charging with radio waves

Wireless charger is no longer a new concept, it has been available on some smartphones such as LG G3, Galaxy S5 . However, the big disadvantage of wireless charging is that users still have to put the device on a charging base plate. Energous - a California startup that wants to change this situation, with WattUp's wireless router launched at CES 2015.

Energous's WattUp wireless charging technology can transmit wireless energy at a distance of 6m. Inside WattUp is like a wireless router with a small RF antenna built into the printed circuit board and a dedicated ASIC chip. When the connection is established, the router sends RF signals at the same Wi-Fi frequencies and proceeds to convert these signals into DC current through a special wireless chip attached to the device.

The first product with Energous's new technology is expected to appear in the market in 2016.

In smart-devices development era, WattUp is obviously a device with an extremely bright future.

12) Charge super fast for 26 seconds

Current battery batteries use chemical methods to promote electrochemical reactions that generate electrical current and charge. Meanwhile, the technique of using lithium-ion capacitors to store electrical energy from Shawn West is considered a new direction.

The battery is capable of holding electricity for a long time, though according to Shawn West, if the battery is stored for a long time, the battery is still empty and the user only needs to plug it in for 26 seconds.

Shawn West's Kickstarter fundraising goal has been unexpectedly successful when it only took 7 days to hit the $ 10,000 mark. This battery technology will be commercialized in the next 1-2 years and will first be used on mobile devices.

13) Aluminum-air batteries for electric vehicles

Energy research firm Phinergy (Israel) has invented a breakthrough technology in the field of electric vehicle power supply.

The difference of batteries Aluminum-Air (Aluminum-air) is a relatively high energy density thanks to the technology of pumping natural oxygen into cathodes (cathode). On average, each 0.5 kg aluminum plate can hold 7kW of electricity, making it 32 km, 100 times more than the equivalent lithium-ion battery.

And so, a 50-kilogram aluminum-air battery can provide electricity for a 1,600 km car. The farthest operating range of internal combustion engine vehicles has not yet reached this distance!

After exhausting aluminum-air batteries will be transformed into aluminum hydroxide - Al (OH) 3 to recycle and create new batteries. Therefore, the cost of this battery will be cheaper and have higher economic benefits.

This battery technology is really an important achievement in the car industry . Thanks to its compact properties, flexible recycling capacity, environmental friendliness, Aluminum-air batteries will be applied universally on new electric vehicles in the future.

14) Battery water . cottage

Scientists at Bristol Robotics Laboratory in Bristol, England, have developed the technology to turn human urine into electricity, which can be used in smartphones. And they received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop this technology.

Close up of bacteria batteries

How does this technology work?

Scientists have created a small, circular object called Microbial Fuel Cell (Microbial Fuel Cell). Inside it are microorganisms in urine, which will be used to produce electricity.

Urine will be passed through a rubber tube into the fuel conversion device, where the internal compounds will break down and create energy. However, scientists say the biggest challenge is to gather enough of these conversion devices together to provide a significant amount of power.

Although these are just initial steps, according to scientists, they are very optimistic about the future of the technology when they say that the generated electricity will probably come back to solve interrelated problems. Concerning sanitary conditions and even used to charge mobile phones.

15) Energy from noise

Researchers in London, UK have successfully integrated a sensor on smartphones to charge the device for noise from the surrounding environment.

As described, they will use zinc oxide as a direct catalyst for the conversion of sound vibrations into electrical energy . Specifically, a sensor mounted on a smartphone operates on a principle called Piezoelectric Effect. Nanogenerators (Nanogenerators) will collect noise from the surrounding environment and turn into electricity.

This method of creating electric energy is very suitable and effective when using mobile phones or mobile devices in noisy environments such as cities, restaurants and supermarkets.

16) Permanent energy

Tag Heuer (Switzerland) has released the next version of the world's first ' luxury ' phone with the ability to store eternal energy called Meridiist Infinite.

To do this, the manufacturer cleverly placed a transparent photovoltaic battery sandwiched between the screen and Sapphire glass. The capacity of this battery is strong enough to help the device to live in Standby mode forever without plugging in the charger, even if the battery power in the device is exhausted.

Currently Infinite Meridiist is being sold at a price of nearly VND 95 million.

17) Dual carbon batteries charge 20 times faster than Lithium-ion batteries

A 24-kWh carbon battery was introduced in mid-2014 by Japanese Power Japan Plus, promising to improve the charging time for electric vehicles.

Because carbon is a common material in nature, production costs are lower than lithium-ion. Battery type has a life expectancy of 3000 times charging / discharging. When battery operation does not radiate heat, there is no need to use a cooling system, the probability of explosion is extremely low.

The company plans to use it in medical devices and satellites and will license technology for other companies to use on electric vehicles, by the end of the year.

18) Organic batteries, 97% cheaper production costs

Scientists at MIT Institute of Technology (USA) have generated electricity from organic flow at a cost of savings of nearly 97%. With only 27 USD (about 587 thousand VND) they were able to generate 1kWh of electricity, while it cost 700 USD (about 15 million VND) to produce the same amount of electricity in the conventional method.

The main material used is the quinone molecule found in rhubarb (a species of flowering plant in the lettuce family). This approach not only has more economic benefits than metal molecules, but is also easily implemented on a large scale.

19) Sand battery, 3 times higher

This is the result of the California Riverside University study, using sand to make an anodes instead of graphite. This idea originated with Zachary Favors after he realized in the sand in the beach that contained a lot of quartz (SiO2 - Silicon dioxide).

First they took samples of quartz-rich sand , then crushed them into nanometers and then mixed with salt and magnesium. The resulting product is brought to a mixture of heated silicon pure.

This silicon is very porous, giving 3 times the amount of graphite but not toxic and environmentally friendly.

20) Hyrogen fuel cell

Charge up UPP Hydrogen Fuel Cell using hydrogen to be sold later this year. Each hydrogen cell can provide 5 full charge times for a mobile phone. This charger supports USB type A charging port, 5V output current, 5W capacity and 1000mA capacity.

21) Improved Lithium-ion battery life of 20 years

The product is the result of a team of researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore.

The basic NTU battery technology was also developed from Lithium-ion battery technology, but instead of using conventional graphite components as cathodes, the group replaced it with titanium dioxide (TiO2) gel form. It was this change that helped the group's batteries last for 20 years, far exceeding the average 2-3 years of current generation batteries.

21) Nano Battery

The nano-sized battery prototype has a honeycomb structure, about 80,000 times smaller than a human hair. They are responsible for transporting electrical charges between electrodes and storing electricity.

Full battery charge time is 12 minutes. The battery has an advantage in size so it will be suitable for small and super small devices like smartwatch, chip implant .

This study was developed by the University of Maryland, funded by the US Department of Energy.

Conclusion: While smartphones, wearable electronic devices and Internet-connected devices are growing rapidly, battery technology, which is an extremely important factor, does not really satisfy the needs of people. use. Therefore, the advances in battery technology above are evaluated by experts as a lot of potential and partly lead to the revolution of electronic equipment and power source equipment in the future.