A team led by Paul Braun, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed battery electrodes that are based on nanostructured metal foams in order to create a lithium-ion battery that takes two minutes to be 90% charged.
The technology could help develop laptops that charge in a few minutes or cell phones that need just 30 seconds to charge.
The technique is compatible with multiple battery chemistries. The team has used the methods to develop nickel-metal-hydride batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles. The team has created porous metal foams layered thickly with active battery materials. The metal conducts electricity, and in spite of being porous, contains active material to store sufficient energy. The pores enable ions to move about freely.
A slurry of polymer spheres is formed on the conductive substrate surface. The shape and surface charge cause the spheres to arrange themselves into a regular pattern. A technique called electroplating was used to put the nickel into the gaps between the spheres. The spheres were dissolved along with most of the metal, leaving a nickel sponge that had about 90% open space. The active material was then grown on top of the sponge.
Andreas Stein, a professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota, developed the method used in the present research. The research paper has been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Source: http://illinois.edu