On May 24, Professor Kyeongjae Cho, professor of materials science and engineering at University of Texas along with Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science have come up with a way to increase battery life for phones, cars and everything imaginable.
This research was funded by Hyundai Motor Company and National Research Foundation of Korea. His study was focused on electrolytes with lithium-air batteries. He suggested that catalysts that could dissolve could work better than the solid ones.
Lithium-oxygen batteries respire oxygen, and this triggers the chemical reactions causing the release of electricity. Lithium-ion batteries, on the other hand, store the electricity. Due to this, theoretically, lithium-oxygen batteries can last ten times longer than lithium-ion ones.
Its potential could lead to storage of renewable energy in mobile devices and cars. This means that a car could run up to 400 miles at one-fifth of the cost and weight.
In previous researches, the universities and corporations had faced failure because they were not able to harness the energy, resulting in low efficiency and poor performance.
When the electrolyte catalysts combine with oxygen, it creates chemical reactions that increase the capacity of the battery. And for this, only a few organic materials can be used as a soluble catalyst.
“The catalyst should enable the lithium-air battery to become a more practical energy storage solution,” said Zheng.
He also said that it could take up to 10 years to materialize. Manufacturers and telecom companies have shown interest in his studies.
About time, the general masses stopped worrying about running out on mobile batteries, or having to carry massive power banks, or being stranded with no way to charge their car battery. There are bigger things to worry about!
