Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have produced a new type of higher capacity lithium-ion battery that will be soon available in the market. The highlight of these batteries is that they can generate double power for the devices and keep them running twice of the standard time.
MIT enlisted SolidEnergy Systems to produce the batteries for smartphones and wearable devices in 2017, while batteries for electric cars are planned to roll out in 2018. The advanced batteries will be available for drones in November 2016.
The inventors of the battery say that they have used lithium metal foil in the new batteries instead of graphite, as the anode substance. They explain that as the metal foil can hold extra ions, the battery can attain a higher power density that can help in longer-lasting wearable devices, drones, phones and cars.
SolidEnergy CEO Qichao Hu said, "by means of two-time the energy density, the battery size can be reduced by half and still that will last the same period of time as the currently available lithium-ion batteries. Otherwise, the same size battery as a lithium-ion type but it could be advanced to last for doubled time than earlier."
Hu co-invented the battery and set up the company in 2012. So far, SolidEnergy has raised US $16.5 million by two funding rounds that include $12 million in financing in 2015 after Hu demonstrated a battery prototype used in the iPhone 6.
Hu also said that the battery is not only small in size by using an ultra thin foil but he was also able to produce a non-volatile and non-flammable battery which can safely function at high temperatures.