Researchers at the Huawei Technology Corporation have unveiled a new quick charging lithium-ion battery. The development is said to result in batteries that charge ten times faster than conventional Li-ion batteries.
At the 56th Battery Symposium in Japan last week, Huawei, which provides batteries for many devices from other manufacturers as well as their own, showed two videos depicting fast charging with the new batteries. In one, a small 600 mAh capacity battery charged to 68 percent capacity in two minutes. In another, a much larger 3,000 mAh battery charged to 48 percent capacity in five minutes. The latter battery has an energy density of 620 Wh/L and is reported capable of powering a Huawei mobile phone for 10 hours of continuous talk time with that 48 percent charge.
Engineers in the Watt Lab of the Central Research Institute at Huawei bonded heteroatoms to the graphite molecules in the anode of the battery. Introducing defects and heteroatom and/or functional groups into carbonaceous anode material is already known to improve and modulate anode material. LLNL has already done research utilizing hydrogen for that purpose. In essence, Huawei is doing the same thing, but utilizing slightly different methods.
Once longevity testing has been completed, this research could mean portable electronics with battery lives measured in days rather than hours. It could also mean that getting out the cord for that quick top-off of the battery would be very much worth the trouble. This could also potentially have big implications for plug-in electric cars and a host of other battery-powered items.
Source: Huawei Tech Corp
