Smartphone Batteries Might be Twice as Powerful in 2017

Battery improvements could definitely make our daily lives easier, but creating better batteries is definitely no easy task. Even though experts have been talking about creating a battery that would put all others to shame for quite a few years now, it seems that they have finally achieved a significant breakthrough in the form of a new type of lithium battery that could even make gasoline-powered cars obsolete. These “lithium-metal” batteries are reportedly being developed by an MIT spinoff named SolidEnergy, and it looks like they offer the same energy as a standard lithium-ion cell in half the size.

That means that SolidEnergy could manufacture a battery that has the same measurements as the ones installed in our current phones while packing twice the energy. The problem with lithium metal being used as a replacement for carbon anodes has been resolved by using a solid electrolyte coating for the lithium metal foil that can actually work at room temperature. Moreover, researchers also put together a non-flammable liquid electrolyte that doesn’t create any dendrites when it reacts with the lithium metal.

This year in November, SolidEnergy wants to launch its first batch of drone batteries, and if everything goes according to plan, it will follow up with cells for smartphones and other electronics in 2017, while EV batteries could arrive in 2018.