Battery advance promises faster recharging

NTU Singapore expect the breakthrough to an impact on a range of industries, particularly for electric vehicles which are inhibited by recharge times and the limited lifespan of batteries.

Similarly common in a range of electronic devices, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries usually last about 500 recharge cycles, which NTU said is equivalent to two to three years of typical use, with each cycle taking about two hours for the battery to be fully charged.

The battery technology, led by associate Professor Chen Xiaodong from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, is described in Advanced Materials.

Lithium-ion batteries usually use additives to bind the electrodes to the anode, which affects the speed in which electrons and ions can transfer in and out of the batteries.

In the new battery, NTU Singapore’s scientists replaced the graphite normally used for the anode in lithium-ion batteries with a new gel material made from titanium dioxide.