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New battery can transform electronics industry
The electronics industry can be transformed with the coming to market early next year lithium ion batteries of the latest generation, which, according to its creators, combine performance, safety and a greater respect for the environment.
The first products to incorporate the new technology, developed by U.S. company Boston-Power, are laptops. Batteries should change the routine of users who work in portable mode, as a single battery will offer more than three hours of daily operation for three years and can be recharged up to 80% of its maximum capacity in only 30 minutes.
Its creators believe that the new technology represents a paradigm shift in the industry, with the potential to transform the way we relate to electronics in general.
Conventional lithium-ion batteries, introduced in the 90s, begin to deteriorate after the first month of use, offering progressively fewer hours of operation after recharged. The problem affects users of all types of electronics; a good example are users of cellular phones.
The industry looks forward to the arrival of batteries that could make possible the emergence of a new generation of electronics.
The long-term frustration of manufacturers and users with batteries which don’t last is that, in turn, limits the possibilities for use of electronics such as laptops.
Among manufacturers of notebook PCs, there are also concerns about safety. In October, a hundred thousand Sony batteries had to be collected from stores and users after incidents of overheating when some laptops began to produce smoke and flames.
According to the US-based consulting firm focusing on new technologies, Frost & Sullivan, which tested the product, the new batteries can be recharged a thousand times, while conventional batteries offer only 300 cycles. The time spent recharging is also lower: half that for conventional recharge.
While the batteries cost more than traditional ones, they have useful life of three years. In that period, according to statistics, a user who works on average two hours a day ends up buying between five and ten games of batteries.
Speaking to BBC Brazil, the Swedish scientist Christina Lampe-Onnerud, a specialist in batteries and founder of Boston-Power, explained what makes the new technology more efficient than its predecessors.
"A battery is like a chemical plant using various chemical substances," she said. "We observe in detail how these chemicals interact, and just like with an orchestra, we set all the instruments so they can work in sync and in the same tone."
In the words of Lampe-Onnerud, to "tune" these chemical processes, scientists perfected its quality control at "the atomic level."
In this process, the researchers also improved the technology to eliminate the safety risk present in conventional batteries.
Future
Lampe-Onnerud emphasized, however, that the technology does not just apply to laptops. The scientist said she already is working in partnership with other industries to develop batteries for sustainable transport (including motorcycles, trucks, cars) and for other sectors such as construction and housing.
"Energy storage is the key to the whole equation," she said. "If you can capture energy from the sun, wind or water, but have no way to save it, there is a huge waste."
"It's time to save all this energy and that’s where our batteries come into play, because they are so small and so efficient."
According to the scientist, one of the major problems the world faces today is the centralization of power sources. Lampe-Onnerud believes that in future these sources will be local, and that the new technology will have an important role in that.
"We will have the opportunity to bring energy to people," he said. "The energy comes to you. It's a big change."
The new batteries, whose commercial name is Sonata, are the first to receive the Nordic Green Seal, Swan, issued by the Swedish government.
