We’ve featured stories of batteries which have the potential of recharging batteries in less time than we’re currently used to, but you don’t hear of many teenagers inventing such a device, thus winning a major science award. That’s exactly what occurred with 18-year-old Eesha Khare as her tiny device is able to recharge cell phone batteries in as little as 30 seconds.
Khare was chosen as one of the two winners of the Young Scientist Awards at Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair held in Phoenix, Arizona. The device is a black, rectangular supercapacitor that is over one inch in length and can charge a cell phone battery in 20 to 30 seconds. “I developed a new supercapacitor, which is basically an energy storage device which can hold a lot of energy in a small amount of volume,” she told KPIX 5. She further added the technology may also be used to speed up the process of charging automobile batteries.
It’s incredible to see someone so young making a difference in everyone’s lives with her research, especially in an area we all could agree we could see an improvement in. The recharging of cell phone batteries shouldn’t take hours to complete in the year 2013. Charging them in just a matter of seconds would completely change how we interact with our devices on a regular basis.