These Powerful Lithium-ion Batteries Will Power Project Ara’s Smartphones
In spite of compelling features and specs, the only thing that annoys the users of high-end phones is the battery life. Smartwatches too suffer from the same issue. SolidEnergy, a startup formed in 2012, seems to have resolved the energy problem with its new lithium-ion battery. This battery can store far more lithium ions and can last twice as long between charges.
The new cells replace the conventional graphite electrode with a thin sheet of lithium metal foil, which is capable of storing more lithium ions. This replacement is potentially dangerous and such experiments have either stopped working or have caused explosion, when tested previously. SolidEnergy has been able to overcome the problem by using an ultra-thin metal anode and an electrolyte that both have solid and liquid parts.
These batteries are reportedly coming to Project Ara. The Founder and CEO of SolidEnergy Dr. Qichao Hu commented on the same saying –
Our battery basically makes the Project Ara phone more practical. Right now, one of the major challenges with this phone is that the battery life is too short
The company has also managed to trim down the size of the battery. It can be recharged 300 times while retaining 80 percent of its original storage capacity than the other prototypes that can be recharged only a few times.
SolidEnergy says that amid of most announcements of battery breakthroughs, this one should be taken with some caution. The company says that making a small number of high-performance prototypes is easy, but producing the same in large numbers can be difficult.
The company plans to roll out the new Lithium-ion battery for mobile devices in 2016, while the same technology will be infused in electric cars in 2017. Check out the video below to understand the battery technology better:
