What is the future of mobile battery life?

Lithium ion battery

Today’s smartphones, or more precisely, today’s portable devices use lithium batteries, the most common of which are Li-ion and Li-ion batteries. While nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cad) rechargeable batteries have been used in the industry for many years, they eventually replaced lithium-ion batteries with much higher capacity and lower weight.

 These batteries are mainly marketed in the form of button cells or cylinders that resemble AA batteries and are packaged together. Eventually, they would become rectangular batteries in the shape of smartphones. But the battery had a major disadvantage; because of its physical shape, it didn’t perform well and the battery life was poor compare to its size.

The same idea led researchers to look for a suitable replacement for this battery model,

resulting in a new generation of lithium-polymer batteries.

How Do Lithium Batteries Work?

In lithium batteries, lithium ions move from the positive pole to the negative pole using an electrolyte solution, thereby releasing electricity into the circuit. This electric current is used to power the mobile device. When you plug your device into a power outlet, the opposite is the case, in which the positive Li + ions (positive electrodes) are attracted to the negative Li- ions (negative electrodes).

In this model,

the capacity of a battery depends on the number of positive electrodes that can absorb the negative electrodes. The anodes used in today’s lithium batteries are graphite, because of their high absorption rate. Graphites consist of a very regular surface. The following figure shows the pattern of discharge of electricity.

Because lithium batteries use chemicals, they lose their original performance over time. Of course, we should not overlook the role of some of the negative factors. Increasing the ambient temperature, especially when the device is charging and when using the device for heavy work, are two important factors that reduce battery performance.

 That is why it is always recommended to use chargers that use low amperage to charge your smartphone battery. Charging fast on smartphones, although they charge fast, they also produce high temperatures. Another thing that adds to the burnout of lithium batteries is the electrode structure and chemical changes.

The movement of the positive ions (cathode) over time damages the flat surface of the electrodes. Salt is another factor that contributes to the aging process of batteries. Over time, lithium salts, which are responsible for electrolyte production, precipitate on the electrodes in a crystalline manner.

How do lithium batteries burn?

The biggest concern about lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries is their high risk of being catch and place on fire. These batteries can fire for a variety of reasons, including overcharging, high temperature, short circuit or perforation.

 Of course, battery drilling is a rare occurrence, as the batteries used in mobile devices are packaged, but it is really dangerous to drill. Because the chemicals are released and because they are in a closed enclosure, there is sufficient heat in the vicinity, this causes everything to suddenly become ash.

 Just like the Galaxy Note 7 was caught. But the charging circuits nowadays used on mobile devices have been optimized to avoid such problems. If they fail in this way, there will be a very dangerous situation, with a chain of chemical interactions that will eventually cause the battery to overheat. This is called a thermal runaway. A problem that will eventually cause the mobile device to explode.

The most important thing that doesn’t cause this problem for batteries is the device’s ventilation mechanism. If the mobile device is well ventilated, it helps a great deal with heat exhaustion. This can greatly reduce the risk of a device’s battery explosion.

Using materials that are not flammable

It seems that fires in lithium batteries will increase with increasing temperature. To convince researchers, they must seek serious solutions to improve the safety of lithium batteries. The fires of the iPhone 6s Plus, the Note 7, the explosion of the iPhone 7 Plus and even the lithium-ion batteries used by NASA have raised serious concerns.

Earlier last year, the University of North Carolina reported that it had succeeded in finding a replacement for the commonly used flammable solvents used in lithium batteries these days.

The new solvent is perfluoropoly ether. Researchers at the university have discovered that it has the ability to dissolve lithium salts within itself. So much more powerful than modern solvents.

This high solubility strength reduces the effect of deposition and crystallization of salts on the electrodes, which will ultimately increase the battery life.

However, the findings of this research group have a long way to go in the business world,

so that things like reducing the impact of salt crystals on electrodes need to be carefully measured. But in the end, Perfluoropol’s entry into the world of batteries will make lithium batteries non-combustible in the future.

Will lithium batteries improve in the future?

No doubt this will happen in the future. Today, there are stunning advances in the availability of graphics processors and smartphones. Because scientists are trying to reduce the bulk of applications ‘interactions with servers, smart applications can process users’ needs using their own local chips. So in the near future, we should see major developments in mobile battery life.

 Improvements will be made mainly around high capacity axles, longer life spans, increased safety and faster charging. Corporate researchers are working to bring the three components of higher energy density, longer life and faster charge to batteries.

But how can the technology used today in lithium-polymer batteries be upgraded? The answer is that we need to focus on two axes:

First, we need to have comprehensive research on the electrolytes used on the two electrodes. Research in this area has dramatically reduced the cost of producing batteries. This makes mobile device manufacturers, and especially smartphones, launch their devices at a lower price.

Second, let’s review the internal structure of the batteries. If we can improve the material used today in the Andes, we will automatically improve all three of the features mentioned.

 In this way,

the high rate of electron capture by the anode will increase the charging speed

as well as provide more space for the lithium ions on the anode,

which will increase the battery capacity. Ultimately, using a flexible anode will help extend battery life.