I’m sure I’m not alone in loving my smartphone but always wishing the battery would last a little longer. For many of us, not knowing whether our mobile phone’s battery will make it through the day can be a real problem. While mobile technology has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years, improvements in the batteries that power them have been rather more sluggish.
Thankfully, all this could be about to change. Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd recently announced that it has developed a new material for use in lithium-ion batteries that boasts capacities roughly 10 times the current standard, and is about to shake up the entire industry.
The next-generation battery is expected not only to significantly extend the amount of time we can spend playing with our portable toys, but also encourage battery miniaturization as well. Shin-Etsu was able to achieve such results by changing the structure inside the battery to a wafer semiconductor and substituting carbon-based material for silicon.
The battery is expected to go into mass production within the next three to four years, and will be offered to major electrical manufacturers not only in Japan but also around the world. The technology is also expected to play an important role in the future of electric vehicles by allowing drivers to go further on single charge, making longer trips a possibility. As a result of this latest development, Japan’s electronic materials industry is expected to establish an even stronger presence on the market.
There you have it, folks! This has got to be the one piece of news that all smartphone users out there have been waiting for. Admittedly, it looks like it will take three to four years before it reaches the consumer market, but when it does it may well make all those battery charging nightmares a thing of the past!
Source: Nikkei.com via Hachima Kikou