If the latest newsbyte from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is to be believed, the day is not far when you would be recharging your cellphone (and other) batteries will take a few seconds.That's correct! Apparently, engineers over at the MIT have managed to "tweak" existing battery material to create this ultra sci-fi thing known as a "beltway" that enables the batteries to get energized in a matter of a few seconds - instead of the few hours that it currently takes to fully charge a decent, self respecting battery. As for the technology, it seems that it can be ported to car batteries as well as smaller batteries that power our cell-phones and MID's of today. If all goes well, the technology could be ready to roll and will be available in the market in the next two years.
As for how the technology works, here is a simplified version straight from the people who were behind this technology -- Gerbrand Ceder, Richard P. Simmons both professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and graduate student Byoungwoo Kang. They say that the current Lithium batteries, owing to their high energy densities, charge and discharge very slowly. To speed things up, what was required was to find a way to make the lithium ions move quickly outside the lithium-iron phosphate material through the tunnels that can be accessed from the surface of the material.
After a lot of research, the trio managed to create a new surface material (beltway) that allows the lithium ions to move quickly outside the material. This happens in an optimized fashion wherein the ions, upon nearing a tunnel are diverted into it.
This breakthrough will eventually allow small batteries to be recharged in 10 to 20 seconds which sure does sound to be a good upgrade over the current charging time!