POWER: A new battery has just been created that could be charged hundreds of thousands of times
A major breakthrough in battery technology has just been made by total accident and it could improve every gadget you own.
Researchers at the University of California at Irvine say they have created a never-ending battery.
This means the power pack can be charged hundreds of thousands of times without ever losing performance.
And this is good news for gadget fans as the breakthrough could lead to smartphone, tablet and laptop batteries that last forever.
THE END: You may never have to throw away batteries again
Incredibly, the discovery was made by total accident by Mya Le Thai, a PhD candidate at the university.
Her team were testing nanowires, a material that is several thousand times thinner than a human hair.
Because this wire is so delicate it usually breaks after a number charging cycles.
However, on once test the fragile tech got covered in a type of gel which made it far tougher and more durable.
Speaking about the findings Richard Penner, chairman of UCI's chemistry department, said: "Mya was playing around and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it.
"She discovered that just by using this gel she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity. That was crazy, because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 cycles at most."
The new battery has now been tested more than 200,000 times and the team has reported no loss in power.
"The coated electrode holds its shape much better, making it a more reliable option," Mya Le Thai said.
"This research proves that a nanowire-based battery electrode can have a long lifetime and that we can make these kinds of batteries a reality."
Along with phones, tablets and laptops getting better performance the breakthrough could also help batteries in appliances, cars and even spaceships last forever.
Source: DailyStar UK
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