Imagine plugging in your phone and seeing it go from 1 percent to 100 percent before the current iPhone charges a single percent. While that may sound fake, researchers are exploring new technologies that could make ultra fast charging a reality possibly, all being made possible by a special type of battery called a supercapacitor.
Unlike traditional lithium ion batteries found in your phone, which rely on chemical reactions to store and release energy, supercapacitors use electric fields. This allows them to charge and discharge at much faster rates (Sometimes thousands of times faster than today’s smartphone batteries). In theory, if a supercapacitor could store the same amount of energy as a phone battery, it could charge nearly instantly.
Currently, there are commercially available supercapacitors to buy right now, and even a supercapacitor car battery is available for purchase, allowing the battery to be charged up in only a few seconds. There are even vehicles that use supercapacitors as a way to power electric busses. China is testing a new type of electric bus called the “Capabus,” which operates without overhead power lines. Instead, it uses large onboard electric double-layer capacitors that store energy and recharge rapidly at each bus stop, with a full recharge occurring at the end of the route.
However, there are a few major hurdles before we can have iPhones that can charge up while you eat your breakfast. While supercapacitors are incredibly fast, they can’t currently hold as much energy as lithium-ion cells. This means that, although they can charge in seconds, a phone powered solely by a supercapacitor would need to be recharged a lot more frequently. On average, the best ultracapacitors could only store about 10% to 15% of the energy that lithium-ion batteries can store. To solve this, engineers are developing hybrid energy storage systems that combine the speed of supercapacitors with the capacity of batteries.
There’s also the question of power delivery. Charging a smartphone in just 10 seconds would require several thousand watts of power, far beyond what current chargers and cables can safely handle (Current phones charge at about 10 watts). New materials, better heat management, and updated charging standards would be necessary to support this kind of speed.
Still, progress is being made. Supercapacitors are already used in applications like electric buses and regenerative braking systems, where quick bursts of energy are useful. If these technologies can be refined and scaled down, the days of waiting for a phone to charge may soon be over, replaced by a world where 10 seconds is all it takes.
Related Stories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_electric_vehicle
https://www.jeccapacitor.com/news/supercapss-may-change-the-battery-life-of-smartphones.html
https://insideevs.com/news/702321/ostrichoo-supercapacitor-ebikes/
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/what-is-supercapacitor-battery-ev-and-hybrid/
Take Action:
https://www.instructables.com/Lets-learn-about-Super-Capacitors-A-Practical-G/
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/lets-discuss-super-capacitors.1062214/
