The companies are looking into new materials that could double the capacity of current lithium-ion power packs.
Samsung and LG Electronics have both issued announcements with regards to new battery technology for mobile devices that has been designed to extend the life of rechargeable gadgets.
The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) has created new materials that could make a meaningful difference.
The Samsung announcement said that these new materials could potentially double the capacity that is currently available in lithium-ion batteries. At the same time, LG Electronics made an announcement from their LG Chem chemical division, which described a hexagonal shaped battery pack that would offer a power boost to smaller sized mobile devices that are a part of the Internet of Things (IoT) for example, wearable technology.
Both of these announcements show potential for the future of the batteries used for mobile devices.
LG’s technology is less complex than that of Samsung and has been designed to give the average wearables, such as smartwatches, a boost of around 4 more hours than is currently available.
On the side of Samsung, the mobile technology is based on a silicon cathode material that has been specifically coded with a type of high-crystalline graphene. Using this material, it could be possible to manufacture batteries that would hold up to twice as much juice as the current standard format.
The Nature Communication journal recently published a research paper that indicated that the industry is on the cusp of new types of mobile tech that would be able to power and enhance the performance of everything from smartphones and wearables to electric vehicles.
According to SAIT professional researcher, Son In-hyuk, “The research has dramatically improved the capacity of lithium-ion batteries by applying a new synthesis method of high-crystalline graphene to a high-capacity silicon cathode.” The Samsung researcher added that “We will continue to improve the secondary cell technology to meet the expanding demand from mobile device and electric vehicle markets.”
Applications have already been submitted for the patents that are involved in the new battery technology for mobile devices that use graphene instead of graphite (because of its increased conductivity and improved physical durability), in the United States, Korea, Europe, and China.
