This charging method could save millions of smartphones

Lithium-ion batteries showed their limitations when electronics manufacturers started packing them into everything. Smart minds around the world are looking for other ways to store energy and testing alternative materials. There is also a group working with what we already have. And this group just proposed charging Li-Ion batteries differently. This is going to bring a lot of benefits.

So that the battery holds capacity longer

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt University in Berlin were responsible for charging Li-Ion batteries. They have developed a charging scheme that makes batteries more resistant and retains greater energy capacity after hundreds of discharge and recharge cycles.

The capacity of common batteries decreases over time as the electrolyte seeps through the membrane separating the anode and cathode. The best ones on the market today use electrodes made from a compound known as NMC532 and graphite. This gives them 8 years of useful life when charged with direct current from an external source. This charging causes deposits to build up on the electrodes and cracks in their structure. The more changes, the worse the battery performs.

What if you charged them differently? Scientists have developed a charging protocol based on impulse current, specifically a high-frequency square wave. Indeed, numerous experiments have shown that this method of charging causes much less structural damage to the electrodes. The pulsed current promotes an even arrangement of lithium ion atoms in the graphite, which causes less stress and therefore fewer cracks. The cathode of NMC532 also degrades more slowly.

By using pulse charging, we can even double the battery's useful life while maintaining 80% of the capacity. We already know this, now it's time for the more difficult part of the task: convincing the whole world that we need to change the way chargers work.