Battery life is one thing that plagues almost all smart-technology users, specifically phones. One of the worst feelings in the world is when you are about to use your phone and you find out that your phone is low on battery life, and you need to save it for a necessity rather than for enjoyment. First, we need to look at the science behind a phone battery. Scientists are looking at silicon to extend the life of lithium-ion batteries. What happens with silicon unfortunately, is that silicon swells and breaks during the charging process. So what scientists need to solve is the issue of how to set up silicon so that the swelling a breaking does not ruin the battery life. This is imperative, because silicon can theoretically store up to ten times the power as a traditional lithium-ion battery.
In order to prevent this, Standford research has based the battery anodes off the configurations of pomegranate seeds. The silicon nanowires in the battery are covered with a carbon-based yolk that permits the swelling from the silicon. These yolks are arranged in the form of a pomegranate shell so that the electricity can keep flowing while still keeping the silicon protected. Stanford professor Yi Cui had this to say regarding the new idea: “While a couple of challenges remain, this design brings us closer to using silicon anodes in smaller, lighter and more powerful batteries for products like cell phones, tablets and electric cars. Experiments showed our pomegranate-inspired anode operates at 97 percent capacity even after 1,000 cycles of charging and discharging, which puts it well within the desired range for commercial operation.” This idea has quite a bit of time before the method becomes viable for commercial use.
The obvious benefits for this process are, well, obvious. This can increase battery life that is as much as ten times that which it is today. While there are plenty of apps out there that claim to help improve battery, all of them focus on the software aspect of things. This new technology changes the actual hardware, which will lead to crazy-improved battery life. Hopefully, this will become viable sometime in the near future. Any thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comment!