Batteries remain the Achilles’ heel of mobile devices. Until we can figure out a practical and affordable way to dramatically up energy densities, other approaches will have to suffice. So, if we can’t make better batteries, how about faster charging ones? Huawei’s Watt Lab just might have the answer.
The company recently released videos showing off its new charging tech that reportedly boosts recharge speeds by “10 times”. Right now, it can get a battery back to around 50 per cent “in mere minutes”, with Huawei showing off a 600mAh battery hitting 68 per cent full after two minutes and a 3000mAh one getting to 48 per cent in five.
Obviously, there are technologies out there already charging batteries to 50-75 per cent speedily, but Huawei believes it’ll soon have the 100 per cent thing sorted too. And it’s not purely experimental either — it’s apparently undergone “many rounds of testing, and … been certified by Huawei’s terminal test department”.
While Huawei avoids going into excessive detail about how it all works, it does offer this tidbit:
According to Huawei, the company bonded heteroatoms to the molecule of graphite in anode, which could be a catalyst for the capture and transmission of lithium through carbon bonds. Huawei stated that the heteroatoms increase the charging speed of batteries without decreasing energy density or battery life.
Still waiting for batteries based on zero-point energy. I wouldn’t mind destabilising an alternate universe or two for a phone with unlimited power.
[Huawei, via Android Police]