Researchers at University of California Irvine have accidentally found that batteries using gold nanowire can last 400 times longer.
The research team was seeking to find an alternative to lithium. Most of the smartphone and mobile device batteries are currently made from lithium. The problem with lithium batteries is that over thousands of recharges they gradually lose capacity.
Since wearable technology and mobile gadgets have become so widely spread, users do not like to recharge the batteries of their gadgets too often. According to the publication Popular Science, the research team at Irvine University was looking for a battery alternative using liquid state technology that is combustible and sensitive to temperature while it can help conduct charge.
Nanowire can hold a large amount of electric charge, being long-theorized as a dream battery material. Researchers at UC Irvine have developed a battery in which they replaced the lithium in electrolyte gel with gold nanowire.
Over 200,000 charge cycles, the new technology led to less than 5 percent loss of battery capacity and no significant corrosion. The new battery construction is able to outlast by far traditional batteries based on lithium.
According to NH Voice, the scientists don't know exactly why the new battery system is so efficient. They started their experiment with the aim to make a solid-state battery using an electrolyte gel to hold charge.
Reginald Penner, a lead author of the study, explained that the Irvine research team just realized that the devices are lasting so long after they started to cycle them. The mechanism of their durability and performance is not understood yet.
Because nanowire corrodes after several thousand cycles in lithium environments, a major concern was to find a way to prevent the corrosion process. The researchers coated the gold nanowire in manganese dioxide.
The resulting experimental battery was tested over a period of three months and was able to complete hundred of cycles without any detectable degradation. After 1000 cycles of charging and discharging the new battery design still retain 97 percent capacity.
