Project "SiliconX" Promises To Boost Battery Capacity By 500%

We all have felt the pain of inadequacy, through attempts at finding a charger while our smartphone’s battery dies away. From closing background apps (Well! that’s a myth) to diminishing screen brightness, we have tried it all. Still, our devices barely make it through the day.

But it seems like smartphones with low battery backup could soon become a thing of the past. A group of Norwegian researchers has found a way to improve the capacity of batteries by 300-500% with the help of Silicon.

The battery manufacturers and researchers have been trying to use silicon for nearly 20 years as a battery enhancer by mixing small amounts of it into graphite.

Generally, smartphones carry Lithium-ion batteries which hold low energy density. In simple words, they can only store a small amount of charge. Lithium-Ion batteries also get heated very quickly; sometimes they explode too.

According to NRK (via BI), the new technology exploits the fact that silicon has a much higher energy capacity than the graphite used in conventional batteries.

Presently, the main hurdle faced by battery manufactures is silicon volume varies almost 400% as lithium ions move in and out of it with battery charge. As a result, the battery swells and starts losing life quickly.

But the Norwegian researchers took off with a different strategy by using nanotechnology. They successfully formed the best ratio of silicone-graphite mix to nullify the degradation while benefiting from silicon battery effects.

The new hybrid silicon batteries will not only be limited to smartphones, but they will also find use in laptops, electric cars or any other device bearing a rechargeable battery.

Kjeller Innovation has already started working on commercializing the tech, calling it the project “Silicon X.” The company will soon begin testing the newly formed battery in industrial processes.

Possibly, this could bring a sea change in the smartphone and EV industry since battery consumption has strongly increased in recent years.