Scientists have invented a safe alternative to modern batteries

Now, you may not worry about your safety.

On the Internet quite often there are news that, as from a burning or exploding smartphones affected people or their property. In most cases this is due to problems with lithium-ion batteries. Or rather, the cause of all ills are the electrolytes that charge and release energy when ions move between the electrodes. Usually they must be made from flammable chemicals to collect enough power, but scientists at the University of Maryland have managed to create a new type of safe electrolytes.

Two years ago a team of researchers created a water-based electrolyte, the voltage reached 3 V. And although it was safe to use, the electrolyte could not hold a lot of energy, so for commercial use did not fit. Now they managed to create an analogue of the water-based, solid coating that protects the electrodes from degradation, which is usually characteristic of organic electrolytes.

The key to success was the high concentration of salt, which creates the same protective layer on the electrodes that normally found in conventional electrolyte. The voltage of such electrolytes reaches 4 V, and batteries using this technology are able to hold more energy.

Meanwhile, experts are faced with the problem that batteries with electrolytes are water-based have a short lifespan. Now they survive only 70 charge cycles, whereas the conventional lithium-ion batteries designed for a few hundred cycles or more. If scientists can solve this problem, the batteries in smart phones will be much safer.

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