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Graphene Balls Reduce a One Hour Battery Recharge to 12 Minutes

Samsung's graphene ball breakthrough makes recharging lithium-ion batteries 5x faster and increases their capacity by 45 percent.

Updated November 29, 2017
Samsung graphene balls

There is an ongoing battle between R&D labs to come up with new battery tech that replaces lithium-ion. But until that happens, evolution of the lithium-ion rechargeable battery continues, and Samsung is the latest to make a breakthrough on that front with the development of graphene balls.

The graphene ball was developed by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) in close collaboration with Samsung SDI and a team from Seoul National University's School of Chemical and Biological Engineering. The end result is batteries that demonstrate an increased capacity of up to 45 percent while at the same time charging five-time faster.

What SAIT found was that they could "synthesize graphene into a 3D form like popcorn using affordable silica (SiO2)." These graphene balls are then used as a protective layer on the anode and cathode of a rechargeable battery. The added protection means a higher capacity is possible, as is faster charging, and just as importantly a stable temperature is maintained within the battery (good news for electric vehicles).

In real terms it means your typical hour-long recharge will be reduced to just 12 minutes, and once charged you will enjoy a significant increase in time/usage before a recharge is required. That all-day battery life claimed by smartphone manufacturers may actually be all day once this graphene ball battery comes to market.

As the in-depth article on Nature explains, adding the graphene balls to existing battery production lines would not require substantial change, meaning this new battery could be brought online fairly quickly and without much additional cost. That's great news for everyone.

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About Matthew Humphries

Senior Editor

I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

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