Supercharging

The ultrafast charging, improved durability and stability of the Li-ion batteries is not just the requirement of the smart phone industry but its need is also highlighted by the situation of electric vehicles. Researchers at Rice University

have recently found that Lithium batteries operated on asphalt-nanoribbon anodes experience a ten - or twenty-fold rise in rate of charging. Another essential part of the development is that asphalt-derived carbon thwarted dendrite formation. Li-dendrites are mossy deposits which branch into the battery's electrolyte, and when allowed to grow long enough they short-circuit cathode and anode (the positive and negative terminals) leading to battery failure, burning or even explosion (remember the Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phones case!). Even after 500 cycles of charging and discharging they displayed remarkable stability. That means that you can bring these batteries from zero charge to full charge in five minutes against the typical two hours or more needed by other batteries.

 Asphalt, generally known as blacktop pavement, is, in the technical sense, a viscous, semi-liquid hydrocarbon, that is one of the components of the paving material.

“A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way,” said Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. A lot of players in the industry of battery are now endeavouring to achieve further compactness and durability, and cater to consumer demand. But some of the events in the past like explosions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone and in 2013, when some Li-ion batteries of the Boeing 787 system caught fire, forcing all members of the fleet to ground raised questions about the fundamental safety issues related with all batteries. It's known that chances of a battery explosion decreases as we get to higher energy density and faster charge. Also, lithium possesses the advantage of the lightest metal which needs least space for the same amount of energy. Since experts are divided on whether the potential of li-ion technology is beginning to saturate research towards safer batteries and alternate technologies is underway, with lithium metal batteries among others being explored.

“A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way,” said Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. A lot of players in the industry of battery are now endeavoring to achieve further compactness and durability, and cater to consumer demand. But some of the events in the past like explosions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone and in 2013, when some Li-ion batteries of the Boeing 787 system caught fire, forcing all members of the fleet to ground raised questions about the fundamental safety issues related with all batteries. It's known that chances of a battery explosion decreases as we get to higher energy density and faster charge. Also, lithium possesses the advantage of the lightest metal which needs least space for the same amount of energy. Since experts are divided on whether the potential of li-ion technology is beginning to saturate research towards safer batteries and alternate technologies is underway, with lithium metal batteries among others being explored.

With the rising popularity and falling prices of the electric vehicles, a fast charging system is a must for further progress. Except Tesla no other company had worked towards setting up an adequate and fast charging infrastructure early enough. It takes EV's with Li-ion batteries 20-30 minutes to recharge even with the fast charging system, and achieve a range of 300-400 kilometers. Fuel-reliant cars however can fuel up within few minutes.

There have been several efforts towards fast charging from different groups before Rice University. The Israeli startup, StoreDot presented it's FlashBattery technology  for smartphones in 2015 and promised charging up to 100% in five minutes. It's expected to be ready in 2018. StoreDot also revealed an electric car battery that would take just five minutes to charge against Tesla's supercharging technology which takes 75 minutes with a range of 300 miles. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4 system was released in Nov, 2016 promising 5 of 5; at least 5 hours of battery life from 5 minutes of charging. It also offered a 0 to 50 percent charge in about 15 minutes or less. Others include a solid state battery using sulfide superionic conductors developed by Toyota scientists with improved stability and safety and a charge or discharge cycle of 7 minutes – an ideal candidate for cars and a scalable battery by MIT Scientists can charge to the maximum in just 6-minutes with improved durability. But Rice University's battery components low price is definitely an advantage. Hence it would be interesting to see which of these techs get commercially available first.