Smartphones have improved significantly throughout the years. However, batteries are not so fortunate. Now, a new deal between an unnamed manufacturer and Intelligent Energy aims to make a battery that will last a week.
One of the most common complaints with smartphones is the battery life. Processors and displays have evolved to a point that batteries are left behind.
Intelligent Energy claims that they are working on a fuel-cell for smartphone batteries that would allow the devices to last a whole week on a single charge. The British company is also responsible for making hydrogen-powered London black cabs possible.
Mystery Smartphone Manufacturer
One unnamed smartphone maker has provided 5.25 million pounds for the development of the said fuel-cell, according to Bloomberg. Intelligent Energy would need to develop a small enough cell that can be fitted inside the smartphones.
Hydrogen fuel-cells are already emerging in commercial power generators. Japanese automotive giants Toyota , Nissan and Honda have announced last year that they would collaborate to make more hydrogen fuel-cells for their vehicles.
The technology is also cleaner than using fossil fuel. It converts hydrogen into electricity without leaving behind harmful emissions.
"Embedding fuel-cell technology into portable devices provides a solution to the current dilemma of battery life. With consumers demanding more and more from their phones, battery innovation has not kept up," said Julian Hughes, the acting managing director from IE's Consumer Electronics Division.
Unfortunately, the development and testing of the fuel-cell smartphone battery could take at least two years. Intelligent Energy CEO Henri Winand said that the seven-day battery life will appeal not only for "intrepid explorers" but for everyone as well.
Battery Life is Still a Problem for Today's Powerful Smartphones
One of the common factors in deciding what smartphone to buy is the battery capacity. Some phones have outrageous specs in terms of their processor, display screen, storage and RAM. However, they lack the capacity to support such specs.
The average standard for smartphone batteries these days is around the 2000mAh range. Anything lower is highly unattractive to consumers looking for a good smartphone.
Some smartphones do have 3000 to 4000mAh batteries but at the cost of the specs. These are often marketed for those heavy users that always want to be connected through data connections and Wi-Fi networks.
Another problem for the batteries is that the powerful processors and vivid display screens eat a lot of battery. In the past decades, phones had more battery life simply because the other components did not eat much power and not because they had more capacity.
Interestingly enough, the fuel-cell smartphone is aimed at consumers who do not have access to a power grid. It could mean that the first model would be for the budget-conscious.
Researchers and tech companies have been trying to develop batteries with larger capacities and longer lives. However, there hasn't been much development in the industry yet.
The Temporary Solution to Battery Woes
In order to temporarily alleviate the problem, some tech companies have turned to producing and selling powerbanks. The portable packs of battery allow a user to charge the smartphone even while on the go.
Powerbanks also eliminate the problem of finding an electrical outlet to plug the charger in. Still, it faces the same problem as smartphone batteries: capacity.
Most powerbanks have larger capacities compared to batteries. The problem is that they will still run out of juice. Even 10000mAh powerbanks run out after two or three full charges.
Another caveat is that some users tend to still use their phones while charging through powerbanks. The activity drains more power from the charging device.
Ultimately, powerbanks could be viewed as a secondary power source. For some, it can still be cumbersome to bring one around or to plug the phone in while in a public place.
Fuel Cells and Graphene?
Besides fuel-cells, other researchers have also focused on graphene. The material has great properties for electronics and could be used for extending the life of batteries as well.
Initially, the material was expensive to produce. However, recent developments have allowed the material to be produced cheaply and in mass quantities.
Graphene can then be used to make higher capacity batteries, but they are still nowhere to be found. The material can also be used for wearable technology as it is flexible.
If possible, graphene and fuel-cell batteries could make for an astounding combination. The capacity could be doubled. However, the development would still take years.
New Charging Method Could Pose a Problem
One problem for the fuel-cell battery is that it wouldn't be charged in the old-fashioned way. It would need to be fed with hydrogen gas.
Since the battery uses hydrogen to use electricity, it would be of no use to feed it with electricity as well. Users would top up with hydrogen gas with the use of a specially adapted headphone socket, according to Metro.
Intelligent Energy would then need to produce hydrogen gas outlets. It also faces the same problem as hydrogen-powered vehicles. It needs their own version of charging stations.
The company could then sell hydrogen gas at consumable amounts. It could still be possible considering that the charging would only be done once a week and not every day with today's smartphone batteries.
Fuel-cell batteries would then be unable to make use of the recently developed chip that allows for faster charging. The chip is targeted at Li-ion batteries that are commonly used in smartphones and other electronic devices that has batteries.
Instead of charging for hours, the chip would make it possible for charging to be done in about 10 minutes. Intelligent Energy has not yet given out details regarding how long the charging process would take.
Once made possible, fuel-cell batteries could mean a new era for smartphones. Android phones started to boom several years ago because they had more features than the basic phones.
They continue to improve on software and hardware aspects but not for the batteries. Some may say that their growth has already stalled since the battery can't keep up with the power demands.
Intelligent Energy might help with the push forward for innovation with their fuel-cell smartphone batteries in t a couple of years. The company has already worked with Boeing on the first aircraft that flew with fuel cells as the power source.
Besides the transport industry, Intelligent Energy has also expanded to back-up systems and hydrogen-powered drones. Soon, a whole lot of electronic devices could use hydrogen fuel cells as well.
