Samsung Introduces 7 Solar-Powered Charging Points Across Bangalore; MIT Researchers Create Rechargeable Batteries With Almost Infinite Life!

By Mohul Ghosh Last updated Sep 9, 2015

Despite advancements in hardware, and software, we are still miles behind when it comes to generating sufficient battery power for running our gadgets. Two major breakthroughs were witnessed within the technology sector, which can have long term implications in solving the ‘power problem’ in the industry.

Samsung Introduces Free Solar Powered Mobile Charging Points

Mixing innovation, marketing and social service, Samsung has introduced 7 mobile charging points across Bangalore, which is solely powered by solar energy. During the time which a mobile user spends while charging his phone on these solar points, he will be advertised about Samsung’s new products and offerings.

These 7 locations are: CMH Road, Indiranagar; Total Mall, Sarjapura Road; Sahakaranagar; Malleshwaram; and Vijaynagar. The charging points have been located right infront of selected Samsung stores in these areas.

As per Samsung, 300 KW of energy is enough to charge 20 mobile phones, daily. The solar power charger has been installed on top of a 10 feet pole and the charging dock is located at a height of 4 feet.

MIT-Samsung Creating Immortal Batteries

If we believe MIT researchers Yan Wang, William Davidson Richards, Shyue Ping Ong, Lincoln J. Miara, Jae Chul Kim, Yifei Mo & Gerbrand Ceder; then we will soon use rechargeable batteries, which can never die.

Well, almost.

These are researchers from MIT and Samsung, who are working on a new prototype of rechargeable batteries, which will work using solid electrolytes, rather than liquid ones which are currently in use. Once this is achieved, we can get batteries which will have hundreds of thousands of cycles, and will be able to deliver for a long-long time.

The primary research, as of now, is centered on a class of materials known as superionic lithium-ion conductors, which are compounds of lithium, germanium, phosphorus, and sulfur. These materials can be used to create solid electrolytes, which are basically organic solvent used for transferring charged ions between a battery’s electrodes.

As per the researchers, solid electrolytes work 20-50% more effectively compared with liquid electrolytes.

Besides a longer life, solid electrolyte powered batteries are safer as well: we can throw it against a wall, drive a nail across and even use below -20 degree Fahrenheit temperature. If we do the same with contemporary batteries, then they will explode and can cause much damage. Researchers from University of California at San Diego and the University of Maryland were also involved in this study.

These findings were first published by Nature Materials journal; and were also mentioned by MIT in their blog.

Some more battery related updates we shared in the past: