Battery 'recharges in seconds'

Scientists in the US have developed a way to charge lithium-ion batteries in a matter of seconds.

The development could give way to a new generation of lightweight, smaller and faster-charging batteries for laptops and other mobile devices.

Up until now, researchers assumed that there was a speed limit on the lithium ions and electrons that pass through the batteries to form an electrochemical circuit.

However, Gerbrand Ceder, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his colleagues used a computer simulation to model the movements of ions and electrons in a variant of the standard lithium material known as lithium iron phosphate.

Ceder and his team have developed a prototype battery made using the new recharging technique which charged the batteries in less than 20 seconds.

Because the new battery involves very few changes to the standard manufacturing process, Professor Ceder believes the new battery material could make it to market within two to three years.