Scientists have developed new battery materials that could enable electric vehicles, power tools and even cell phones to recharge in minutes.
In collaboration with Vorbeck Materials Corp. of Jessup, Md. and Ilhan Aksay of Princeton University, US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has demonstrated that small quantities of graphene - an ultra-thin sheet of carbon atoms - can dramatically improve the power and cycling stability of lithium-ion batteries, while maintaining high energy storage capacity. The pioneering work could lead to the development of batteries that store larger amounts of energy and recharge quickly. Researchers believe using new battery materials with graphene could cut recharge time to less than 10 minutes.
