Battery that 'charges in seconds'
Geoff Brumfiel from Nature discusses how the new batteries work
A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be charged in just seconds.
A prototype battery made using the new technique could be charged in less than 20 seconds - in comparison to six minutes with an untreated sample of the material.
Most commercial batteries use a material made up of lithium and cobalt, but lithium iron phosphate does not suffer from overheating - something that has affected laptop and mp3 player batteries in a number of incidents.
Even though it is cheap, lithium iron Phosphate has until now received little attention because lithium cobalt batteries can store slightly more charge for a given weight. However, the researchers found that their new material does not lose its capacity to charge over time in the way that standard lithium ion batteries do.
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