120 times quicker charging for Lithium-Ion batteries developed

Lithium-Ion batteries form the basis of a large number of mobile devices across the world, yet they are flawed by poor battery charging times that can see them takes hours on end. With that problem deemed important enough, a team of researchers has been working on a new way to charge Lithium-Ion batteries.

Current Lithium-Ion batteries have to charge by absorbing current to the outer layer of conductors and then feeding that to the centre where the charge is then stored as power. The new methods eliminates this inefficient method. By having the outler layer of conductors rewired throughout the entire battery, the entire battery can be charged at the same time.

To do that, the team place the cell material in a solution containing graphite, which causes carbon to permeate the materials. When carbonised, the result is “a dense network of conductors throughout the electrodes of the battery”.

The results are impressive – between 30 to 120 times quicker charging times for Lithium-Ion batteries. The only downside is batteries might have to suffer reduced capacity or larger size to make room for the new graphite solution.

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