Experimental battery ‘can charge phone in a minute’

Scientists believe they have invented a battery that could fully charge a smartphone in just one minute.

The researchers have created an aluminium battery which they hope could replace the lithium models commonly found in laptops and mobile phones.

And as well as the “unprecedented charging times” of their aluminium prototype, the team said the new batteries would also be safer than lithium-ion batteries, as they were less prone to catching fire, and more environmentally friendly than alkaline models such as AA and AAA.

Publishing the findings in the journal Nature, Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, hailed the development as a breakthrough in battery technology that went further than previous attempts using aluminium.

He said: “We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames. Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.

“Millions of consumers use 1.5-volt AA and AAA batteries. Our rechargeable aluminium battery generates about two volts of electricity. That’s higher than anyone has achieved with aluminium.”

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The prototype was said to be more durable, withstanding more than 7,500 cycles without any loss of capacity and surpassing previous aluminium batteries which died after just 100 charge-discharge cycles, while a typical lithium-ion battery lasts about 1,000 cycles.

“This was the first time an ultra-fast aluminium-ion battery was constructed with stability over thousands of cycles,” the report’s authors wrote.

Prof Dai added that lithium batteries can “go off in an unpredictable manner” and cited a ban by US airlines Delta and United on bulk shipments on passenger jets.

The new design could also be used to store renewable energy of the electrical grid, the researchers suggested.

Meanwhile, co-author Ming Gong said: “Another feature of the aluminium battery is flexibility. You can bend it and fold it, so it has the potential for use in flexible electronic devices. Aluminium is also a cheaper metal than lithium.”

Meanwhile, Twitter says it has overhauled its “frustrating” quote tweet feature to allow people to say more about text. The social media giant had faced criticism users barely had any characters left to add a comment when they quoted a tweet because of the 140-character limit.

The upgrade announced today allows users to add an extra 116 characters to any tweet and embeds the quoted tweet within the message.

The new feature is available on iPhone and the web, while Android users can access it in the near future.

Social media expert Warren Knight said: “It was frustrating so it’s good it’s been resolved. I know Twitter has been looking at the platform recently and little additions like this are very beneficial.

“Time will tell who benefits most. It will be interesting to see how businesses utilise it.”

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