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Sony Making Smartphone Batteries That Last 40 Percent Longer

by Felix Omondi
Sony Making Smartphone Batteries That Last 40 Percent Longer

When you look at the evolution of mobile phones, from those basic feature phones, to flip phones and now the smartphones. You will see a drastic evolution or rather an improvement in the device’s processors, RAM, ROM, and other nifty hardware.

However, the batteries powering these devices have remained on a snail-paced path of evolution. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are not doing enough research and development in the battery aspects as they do on the other hardware and software aspects of their smartphones.

As it works out, OEMs that produce smartphones with bigger batteries come off as bringing uninspiring devices into the market. While those that produce fast-charging devices give us a small consolation. Larger batteries also mean more heavy and bulky smartphones, which probably won’t appeal to our quest of aesthetically catchy devices. At the same time, fast-charging devices have been known not to stay for long without being juiced up (recharged) now and then.

This sad state of affairs might soon change if the reports by Nikkei are anything to go by. Nikkei says Sony is currently working on developing new kinds of smartphone batteries that will be able to carry an extra 40 percent charge than the current generation of lithium-ion batteries. By the way, you should know that Sony was the first OEM to develop the world’s first commercially viable Li-ion battery.

The critical ingredient in Sony’s prototype super battery is its sulfur-based electrodes. Test show that Lithium-sulfur cells have a better power storage capacity than the Li-ion batteries. However, the sulfur degenerates quite rapidly that the batteries made out of the materials are not commercially viable; also not environmentally friendly. For such reasons, Lithium-sulfur batteries have been out of the question.

It is believed Sony has come up with a workaround on the Lithium-sulfur batteries, by eliminating the lithium out of the equation and in its place placing magnesium. Thus, Sony’s new magnesium-sulfur battery is said to be able to store 40 percent more charge than the conventional Li-ion batteries.

Magnesium is also a more abundant element than Lithium, making the cost of production for such batteries much cheaper. The fact that Sony has found a workaround on the faster-degrading sulfur means that the magnesium-sulfur batteries are even longer lasting. The magnesium-sulfur batteries should also bring improvement in safety standards, unlike the lithium-based batteries that do degenerate with time and at some point become a fire hazard.

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