Scientists have created a material that could charge phones and cars in seconds

When you're out and about on the town, nothing can be more irritating than a dead battery.

Whether it's your smart phone, tablet, e-book, or electric cigarette - a dead battery is going to majorly cramp your functionality in this digital world of ours.

But this might not be a problem for much longer, because a new material could theoretically allow us to charge our various batteries in seconds.

Researchers from Drexel University have reportedly combined the properties of traditional batteries that boast large storage capacities, with that of a supercapacitor, which doesn’t need much charging at all, but releases energy in large bursts.

The researchers formed a flat material called MXene, which is layered upwards to give it good connectivity. That structure makes it difficult for ions, which carry charge, to diffuse through the battery.

It could make batteries just as powerful as supercapacitors, and provide phones and other devices with a quick burst of energy, according to Drexel University.

Lead researcher, Yury Gogotsi, said:

In traditional batteries and supercapacitors, ions have a tortuous path toward charge storage ports, which not only slows down everything, but it also creates a situation where very few ions actually reach their destination at fast charging rates.

This paves the way to development of ultrafast energy storage devices than can be charged and discharged within seconds, but store much more energy than conventional supercapacitors.

HT Science Alert

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