Scientists discover new material to make li-ion batteries charge faster

If you’ve ever felt that your devices take too long to charge, but yet seem to drain battery quicker than you can use it, a team of scientists from the Department of Energy lab’s Chemical Sciences Division have recently discovered a material which they are claiming can increase the surface area and significantly improve the charge-discharge time for Li-Ion (Li-ion) batteries.

Thanks to titanium dioxide, the scientists have reported that as a result, batteries can now be charged to 50% (we’re assuming from 0%) in just 6 minutes. Previously 6 minutes would only net you 10%, meaning that the new technology is seemingly five times faster than before.

The ORNL compound is also said to feature a larger capacity and due to the materials supposedly being safe and long lasting, they are said to be great for use in hybrid-electric vehicles. Unfortunately if you were looking forward to these batteries, it seems that the production process of the material is a highly complex one, and the scientists have yet to make the production process scalable, so for now we can only fantasize about fully charging our vehicles and gadgets powered by li-ion batteries in only a matter of minutes.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Design
Tags: batteries, research