It has always been a priority for companies improve battery performance, in addition to making them charge faster.
Up to four times higher energy density
But nevertheless, one of the limitations What makes the batteries unable to have a greater electrical charge capacity is their packaging, which prevents the rapid passage of both electrons and ions.
A group of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania has created tiny and very light batteries that can store up to four times the amount of energy.
This research was carried out in order to try to create new batteries that had a long life and that served as a source of energy for small electronic devices. However, to achieve this usually the only thing that can be done is that the battery increases both its weight and its size.
Changing the battery design, the key
To create these new small batteries the team redesigned the way these types of batteries are made. These types of devices generally have electrodes that allow electrons and ions to pass through. However, its structure causes the amount of energy to be limited that can be accumulated.
Therefore, scientists they changed the design of the battery cathode. Typically they are made with crushed particles compressed together in a way that makes a composition where air spaces are created. This influences the movement of the ions within the battery.
However, for the new batteries a very dense material was used to create the cathode that could be put together with thin metal, allowing the case to also accumulate energy. Therefore, this new battery structure facilitates the passage of electrons and ions by battery.
The design was a total success, after managing to store four times more energy than with conventional batteries. In addition, it has an energy density up to 100 times larger than its size.
This type of battery would be ideal for small electronic devices such as robots, portable devices or drones that can be of many types.