Student accidentally creates rechargeable battery that lasts 400 years

In the world of science, a new discovery has been unveiled. And unlike other creations, this one was only accidentally discovered by a student in University of California, Irvine.

Photo credit to Elite Readers

Playing around leads to a discovery of a lifetime

Student Mya Le Thai is taking up her doctoral degree in the University of California, Irvine. She was just in the laboratory cooking up experiments when she decided to play around with rechargeable batteries.

Usually, rechargeable batteries have a cycle of only 300 to 500 and may only last for a handful of years.

However, while experimenting with different materials, Thai stumbled across a discovery of a lifetime, increasing the cycles of an ordinary battery from 300 to about 200,000.

Extending laptop battery life

Thai experimented with the nanowire that support the cycle of these batteries. After messing around and coating a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglass-like electrolyte gel, she discovered that it extended the life of the batteries.

Photo credit to Elite Readers

Usually, a battery is only using ordinary nanowire but they easily break. With the experimentation of Thai, they discovered that it outlives the ordinary battery.

When she tested the cycle, she was shocked to discover that it reached 10,000 cycles. She did not stop there and left it on, and after a few days, it was still running and was at 30,000. She did not turn it off and it went on for about a month.

Apparently, Thai’s experiment officially went on for about 3 months, reaching 200,000 cycles.

Because of this new discovery, laptop batteries can now last to about 400 years.

Thai and her team are still currently working on the project, thinking of ways to lower the price of their final product because the current one will force the price upwards.

They are hoping to work with other more affordable alternatives to be able to open the product to the public.

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Source:  Elite Readers