Today's current smartphone world is dominated by powerful processors and extremely high resolution displays. One thing that smartphones seem to always fall short on, however, is something very simple - battery life. Recent flagships have tried to mitigate this problem by adding bigger battery packs or fast-charging technology, but these are minor consolations to a problem that is very blatant. At the end of the day, modern smartphones have taught consumers not to expect devices to last more than a day on a single charge, according to Engadget.
Enter Sony. The Japanese technology giant is currently coming up with the next generation battery technology. If successful, Sony would be able to create battery packs that would be more affordable and far more powerful than common lithium-ion batteries found in smartphones today.
Sony is no stranger to the development of battery packs. In fact, the Japanese tech giant was the company who developed the first commercial lithium-ion battery. For its next generation batteries, Sony would be using sulfur-based electrodes, making batteries that would carry 40 percent more energy than lithium-ion counterparts, reports Hot Hardware.
Sulfur-based batteries have been developed in the past, but they have exhibited some inherent flaws. For example, they do not last very long, as sulfur has a tendency to degrade rapidly, making it unsuitable for commercial use.
Sony seems close to resolving this issue, possibly involving graphene, which would be used as a physical barrier inside sulfur-lithium batteries, thereby preventing the degradation of the batteries' sulfur element. Sony is reportedly also working on a battery that completely removes lithium from the equation altogether, using magnesium-sulfur instead, according to Digital Trends.
A magnesium-sulfur battery would be a good development, since magnesium does not degrade. Plus, the element is cheap and abundant. However, magnesium-sulfur also has a weakness, since it usually has low capacities and voltage. Then again, Sony probably has a contingency for that too.
Sony's new batteries would not be in the market anytime soon, though. Sony is aiming to make its new batteries available for consumer devices by 2020.
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