Every smartphone choice has its compromises but most buyers will never compromise a good battery and thats why most tech reviews at the end mentions the maH capacity of the smart device. Batteries are also used for our electric cars today. BMW and Tesla have released some cars which use batteries. The most common batteries today are made of Lithium which has its shortfalls and one can imagine how many lithium batteries will be needed to power such high end cars. Battery life is therefore a major determinant for every smart device or car purchase.
It is interesting to note that a young Japanese start-up called Power Japan Plus or PJP uses carbon for both the anode and the cathode portion of the battery. A battery is made up of an anode on one side and a cathode on the other, with an electrolyte in between. In a lithium ion battery, lithium ions travel from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte, creating a chemical reaction that allows electrons to be harvested along the way.
While lithium ion batteries are the dominant batteries these days for laptops, cell phones and early electric cars, they have some deficiencies. For example, the batteries degrade pretty quickly over time (which explains why your laptop battery dies every couple of years), and they can catch on fire under extreme impact. They’re also relatively expensive if you need a bunch of them to power an electric car, which is why Tesla’s cars are only really attainable by the wealthy right now.
A carbon battery also doesn’t degrade as quickly as a lithium ion battery over time. While a standard lithium ion battery with a two-year lifetime could have around 500 cycles of charging and discharging, Power Japan Plus’ dual-carbon battery could last for 3,000 cycles, the company’s executives told me in a phone call. They also say that because of the carbon chemistry, their battery can charge 20 times faster than a standard lithium ion battery. Because the battery only uses carbon for its main active material, it could cost less than standard lithium ion batteries. Finally, an all-carbon battery could be more easily recycled at the end of life than a lithium ion battery because it doesn’t contain rare earth materials and metals.
Now Power Japan Plus — co-founded by Japanese tech entrepreneurs Dou Kani (the CEO and president) and Hiroaki Nishina (the COO) — is looking to commercialize the research done at Kyushu.
