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charge and are not exactly environmentally friendly.<\/p>\nCurrently, one of the greatest potential growth area in the technology industry, as well as one of the most neglected thus far, is battery life. Some improvements were made\u2014we\u2019ve seen the battery capacity increased and we\u2019ve witnessed the apparition of new ways of charging batteries faster, but they still take a while to charge and are not exactly environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n
But things don\u2019t stop here. A new solution seems to have appeared on the horizon, one made possible by a radical material shift. Scientists at the Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new battery (well, technically speaking it\u2019s a supercapacitor, we\u2019ll develop more on this later), made from 3D printed graphene, which is said to hold a larger charge of energy, is recharged in only a matter of seconds and will last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
Take for instance the Pok\u00e9mon Go app, it drains smartphones so fast that companies, aware of the power of this new app, are now marketing their products by hosting events where they give external batteries to players who present their devices showing under 10 percent battery life left. Initially, many place the blame on the app, but in fact, the problem is not in the app, but in the lithium batteries that can only take a very limited charge.<\/p>\n
Currently, the dominating energy storage device is the lithium-ion battery. These power nearly every portable electronic device, as well as almost every electrical car. Batteries store energy electrochemically, where chemical reactions release electrical carriers that can be extracted into a circuit. The supercapacitor uses a different storage mechanism\u2014energy is stored electrostatically on the surface of the material, without involving chemical reactions. Given their fundamental mechanism, supercapacitors can be charged quickly, leading to a very high power density, and do not lose their storage capabilities over time.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s true that batteries and supercapacitors are different, both energy-holding vessels suffer from the same drawbacks. Aside from the limited charge they can hold, both take plenty of time to charge, while regular use significantly limits their lifespan. It\u2019s common knowledge these days that batteries lose their juice after a few years\u2014this causing another major problem, an environmental one, as these are expensive to dispose of.<\/p>\n
Graphene seems to be a super solution. Graphene is basically a form or carbon, just like diamonds and the lead in pencils. Yet, unlike like most forms of carbon, graphene isn\u2019t a type of 3D shape, but a 2D material that consists of a hexagonal sheet only a single atom thick. Moreover, its properties are extremely interesting: it\u2019s very light and flexible, extremely durable (about a hundred times stronger than steel) and a very efficient conductor of heat and electricity. In case you are wondering, no, graphene didn\u2019t just get discovered yesterday, its theoretical existence has been discussed for decades, but it was only first successfully produced in 2004, and ever since, manufacturers have shown great interest in it.<\/p>\n