Newly Discovered Glass Material Can Help Increase Your Smartphone’s Battery Life
Ever thought of a display that can prove useful in extending the battery life of your smartphone? Well, we certainly didn’t consider it. However, with the new glass material developed by researchers, the devices will last for double the amount of time they used to with normal lithium-ion batteries.
A team of ETH Zurich researchers led by Dr. Semih Afyon and Reinhard Nesper invented a Vanadate-borate glass that when embedded on the phone will act as an electrode in lithium-ion batteries. An electrode is a conductor that transfers electric current from one substance to another. The materials used in the formation of the glass are the chemical components – vanadium oxide (V2O5) and lithium-borate (LiBO2) precursors. These chemicals are later covered with a coating of reduced graphite oxide (RGO). The coating is done to increase the electrode properties of the material.
The purpose of using Vanadate as one of the compounds is that vanadate is a transition material, and the powered vanadium pentoxide and borate are mixed to produce the desired material. The scientists heated the powder at 900 degree Celsius and then cooled it promptly to form glass. These glass sheets are later crashed into powder to increase the surface area along with creating more pore space.
The research team drew light on its study saying, “Borate is a glass former; that’s why the borate compounds were used, and the resulting glass compound is a new kind of material, neither V2O5 nor LiBO2 at the end.”
Both the Vanadate and borate compounds are inexpensive and are efficient to produce energy density of approximately 1000 watt-hour per kilogram when coated with graphite oxide (RGO). The energy generated is enough to power a device 1.5 to 2 times more than the usual lithium-ion batteries.
Since the glass material is said to be cheap, there’s quite a possibility that we can see future smartphones embedded with the Vanadate-borate glass.
