One of the most sought-after sections in current devices (cell phones, cameras, cars, drones, laptops, etc.) is their battery. Taking this into account, it is not strange that manufacturers are dedicated to increasing battery capacities, developing, for example, mobile phones with 10,000 mAh batteries. But perhaps the key is not to have larger batteries, but more efficient ones. And that is what a team of scientists proposes in a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Those responsible for the advance, led by Feng Li, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, They talk about a 451 Wh/kg battery. But what does this mean? To understand it, it is best to start with the basics. When scientists talk about Wh/kg (watt-hours per kilogram), they are measuring how much energy a battery can store relative to its weight. It is, in a way, the “energy density” of the system: how much “electric fuel” fits in each kilo.
Current lithium-ion batteries, such as those used in mobile phones or electric cars, tend to operate at much lower figures. Reaching 451 Wh/kg means, in simple terms, being able to store much more energy without increasing size or weight.But what is striking about the study by Li’s team is not just that figure. The battery could also be charged in just a few minutes. And here comes the real challenge: typically, storing a lot of energy and charging very quickly are competing objectives. Improving one usually makes the other worse.
The advance is based on a solid-state battery, a technology that replaces the traditional liquid electrolyte with solid materials. This not only improves stability and safety, but also allows working with more efficient chemical structures. In this case, Li’s team has managed to optimize the movement of lithium ions (the true “messengers” of energy) so that they circulate faster without degrading the system.
The logical question is, how does all this translate into something everyday? A mobile battery 5,000 mAhwhich is a fairly common capability nowadays. That figure, in reality, does not directly measure energy, but rather the electrical charge, which, translated, means that it has about 18.5 Wh, the energy stored in a mobile phone. If we used a battery with a density of 451 Wh/kg, that same energy could be stored in about 40 grams of battery
In practice, this opens two paths. The first is maintain the current size of the batteries, but double or even triple the autonomy of the device. And the second is the opposite: maintain autonomy, but reduce the size and weight of the battery significantly.
And finally, there is the burden. If that ultra-fast charging technology (study mentions 3 minutes) If it reached the real world, it would imply something difficult to imagine today: charging a cell phone in just a few minutes, not half an hour.
However, as with many battery advances, the most important fact is not in the headline. These figures are obtained under laboratory conditions. The big question is not whether it can be achieved once, but whether it can be repeated hundreds or thousands of times without degradation, without risks and at a reasonable cost.
Progress points in a clear direction. If the batteries of the future manage to combine high energy density with ultra-fast charges, not only mobile phones or electric cars will change. They will change our relationship with energy. It will stop being something we “expect” and become something we simply recover.