[bassist33]

This would avoid some headaches, all we'd need is some better wiring..

Check it!

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. engineers have found a way to make lithium batteries that are smaller, lighter, longer lasting and capable of recharging in seconds.

The researchers believe the quick-charging batteries could open up new applications, including better batteries for electric cars.

And because they use older materials in a new way, the batteries could be available for sale in two to three years, a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Current rechargeable lithium batteries can store large amounts of energy, making them long-running. But they are stingy about releasing their power, making them discharge energy slowly and require hours to recharge.

Scientists traditionally have blamed slow-moving lithium ions -- which carry charge across the battery -- for this sluggishness.

However, about five years ago, Gerbrand Ceder and a team at MIT discovered that lithium ions in traditional lithium iron phosphate battery material actually move quite quickly.

"It turned out there were other limitations," Ceder said in a telephone interview.

Ceder and colleagues discovered that lithium ions travel through tunnels accessed from the surface of the material. If a lithium ion at the surface is directly in front of a tunnel entrance, it can quickly deliver a charge. But if the ion is not at the entrance, it cannot easily move there, making it less efficient at delivering a charge.

Ceder and colleagues remedied this by revamping the battery recipe. "We changed the composition of the base material and we changed the way it is made -- the heat treatment," Ceder said.

This created many smooth tunnels in the material that allow the ions to slip in and out easily. "The trick was knowing what to change," he said.

Using their new processing technique, the team made a small battery that could be fully charged in 10 to 20 seconds.

Ceder thinks the material could lead to smaller, lighter batteries because less material is needed for the same result.

And because they simply tinkered with a material already commonly used for batteries, it could be easily adapted for commercial use.

"If manufacturers decide they want to go down this road, they could do this in a few years," Ceder said.

One glitch, Ceder said, would be handling the extra surge of power. "All of the wiring has to get beefed up," he said.

[BatterdStarfish]

Seems to me one of those things thats 'too good to be true'

See what this brings hey.

~Joe

[marshalp]

This sounds very interesting, the number of times I forget to charge my phone, ipod or the times I leave my laptop on in the bag only to get to a meeting with very little battery. It would be useful to get a full charge in seconds.

[xTaffyx]

Really?I dont think it is that simply something always gets in the way stopping these great ideas

[bassist33]

Really?I dont think it is that simply something always gets in the way stopping these great ideas

Sometimes, but when it goes right, we just call it innovation. Before long it's just another piece of technology we all take for granted..

[elohel]

Coming soon? Get real dude. Every day on digg, I see a new article about some crazy new way that a new fuel is being produced, a new battery invented (few months ago I saw a battery using live bacteria in a cell to generate the energy invented at MIT), etc. 99.99999999% of them never pan out. The other .0000001% are either ridden with problems and take 10+ years to actually become something, or aren't half as good as they claimed to originally be.

[yourfriendwayned]

Coming soon? Get real dude. Every day on digg, I see a new article about some crazy new way that a new fuel is being produced, a new battery invented (few months ago I saw a battery using live bacteria in a cell to generate the energy invented at MIT), etc. 99.99999999% of them never pan out. The other .0000001% are either ridden with problems and take 10+ years to actually become something, or aren't half as good as they claimed to originally be.

Party Pooper

[Crackberrykills]

I would love it if this actually happened. I am not so sure it will happen anytime soon though.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[briananderson]

Really?I dont think it is that simply something always gets in the way stopping these great ideas

Yeah, like the immutable laws of physics....

[JRSCCivic98]

I know people love the Storm forums and pretend there's no other forum on CB, but what exactly does this article and thread have to do with a Storm in general?

Maybe we should change this website to just crackberrystorm dot com instead.

It's probably a good thing I'm not a mod, stuff like this would be getting deleted or moved on a daily basis.

[bigman2]

Seems to me one of those things thats 'too good to be true'

It is. When you get into the details of this story, they also mention that these batteries will discharge in seconds. The idea here is to be able to do quick charges for batteries that will then rapidly discharge. It's probably not going to be all that useful for laptops and cell phones any time soon. In time, they might be able to adapt the technology to reduce the charging times of Li Ion batteries without also reducing the number of charge cycles like most current rapid chargers do.

[JRSCCivic98]

It is. When you get into the details of this story, they also mention that these batteries will discharge in seconds. The idea here is to be able to do quick charges for batteries that will then rapidly discharge. It's probably not going to be all that useful for laptops and cell phones any time soon. In time, they might be able to adapt the technology to reduce the charging times of Li Ion batteries without also reducing the number of charge cycles like most current rapid chargers do.

They invented that years ago.... they're called capacitors.

[bassist33]

I know people love the Storm forums and pretend there's no other forum on CB, but what exactly does this article and thread have to do with a Storm in general?

Maybe we should change this website to just crackberrystorm dot com instead.

It's probably a good thing I'm not a mod, stuff like this would be getting deleted or moved on a daily basis.

I posted to this thread because battery life is a major issue a lot of people have with the storm. Many people go as far as to add bulk to their phone just to have an extended battery. A rapidly charging battery would be big news to these people. Also, this is one piece of technology which has some potential. As stated in the article, it uses readily available materials that are already being used in battery production, unlike the bacteria or whatever technology that others have mentioned.

Finally, your useless comment only bumps this thread up for further discussion. If you see a thread you don't like, then don't open it, and if you are really that bothered by threads such as this then get a life and get off the forums. Peace.

[bigman2]

But capacitors generally can't store a charge for long periods of time. Unless you have some giant capacitor like you find in CRTs.

Still, interestingly enough, someone recently came up with a method whereby capacitors might replace batteries in things like laptops. Which would be great. May not necessarily get any greater battery life or faster charging times, but we should get nearly infinite "recharge" cycles and no nasty chemicals that have to be disposed of carefully.