Lithium batteries can be made to charge 10 to 20 times faster by using asphalt, suggests US research.
Scientists at Rice University speeded up the charging time by making one component of a battery using carbon derived from the viscous liquid.
In tests, batteries made using asphalt charged to full power in minutes, said the researchers.
They also found that using asphalt stopped the formation of deposits that can shorten the life of a battery.
“The capacity of these batteries is enormous,” said Prof James Tour, who heads the lab that developed the batteries.
“What is equally remarkable is that we can bring them from zero charge to full charge in five minutes, rather than the typical two hours or more needed with other batteries,” he added.
To make their batteries, the Rice team used carbon derived from asphalt that was mixed with graphene nanoribbons and then coated with lithium metal.
Prof Tour said the manufacturing process behind this new approach was simpler than earlier techniques it had developed for making fast-charging batteries.
The Rice team has put prototype batteries through hundreds of cycles of charging and discharging to ensure the technology is stable.
This testing also revealed that the batteries were less likely to suffer the build-up of structures called “lithium dendrites” that can gradually spread through a device limiting its life.
Details of the research were revealed in the scientific journal ACS Nano.
The Rice group is just one of many developing faster-charging technologies.
Source-BBC
