Fast-Charging, Long-Lasting, Cheaper Battery Developed

"The electrolyte is basically a salt that's liquid at room temperature, so it's very safe," said Stanford graduate student Ming Gong, co-lead author of the study.

Aluminium batteries are safer than conventional lithium-ion batteries used in millions of laptops and cell phones today, Dai added.

Smartphone owners know that it can take hours to charge a lithium-ion battery. But the team reported "unprecedented charging times" of down to one minute with the aluminium prototype.

Aluminium batteries developed at other laboratories usually died after just 100 charge-discharge cycles. But the Stanford battery was able to withstand more than 7,500 cycles without any loss of capacity.

"This was the first time an ultra-fast aluminium-ion battery was constructed with stability over thousands of cycles," researchers said.

"Another feature of the aluminium battery is flexibility. You can bend it and fold it, so it has the potential for use in flexible electronic devices. Aluminium is also a cheaper metal than lithium," Gong said.

The study was published in the the journal Nature.
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