New Aluminum-Ion Battery from Stanford Charges in One Minute

Let's not lie to ourselves, we're glued to our smartphones. We have to have them on us at all times, no matter where we are or what we're doing and that can be a serious drain on our device's battery life. When the battery dies we have to charge it but even that can be a chore as it takes time to charge our batteries, time that our fast-paced, technology driven society would probably rather spend on something else....like more smartphone usage. If only there were a way to have our smartphones charge in super fast, like in a minute or something...

Well that desire is now a possibility thanks to researchers at Stanford University, who have created an aluminum battery that charges smartphones to full capacity in just a single minute. The scientists say that the technology has the potential to replace many of the batteries used in mobile devices today. The findings themselves were detailed in an online edition of the Journal Nature and a press release was also made available.

Instead of the lithium-ion batteries that we use today, this new aluminum-ion battery is a much safer alternative as it is less of a fire hazard than its lithium counterpart. The prototype is also a better option for the environment disposable alkaline batteries like the ones you use in most other electrical devices, like a remote or a game controller.

The prototype battery was developed by Hongjie Dai, a chemistry professor at Stanford, along with some student colleagues. According to a statement from Dai, "We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames. Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it."

The battery itself will last through 7,500 charges, which is extremely impressive due to the fact that previous experimental aluminum batteries lasted only 10 charge cycles. For a comparison, a typical lithium-ion battery only lasts about 1,000 charge cycles according to current research.

Aluminum is becoming a more appealing material for batteries mainly because it's affordable, doesn't catch fire too easily and has a high charging capacity. The only real challenge that faced aluminum batteries has been "finding materials capable of producing sufficient voltage after repeated cycles of charging and discharging," according to researchers, though that is no longer a problem.

The battery itself consists of a negatively charged aluminum anode and a positively charged graphite cathode. In addition to that, the battery is also very durable and is even capable of bending, which severely increases its potential use in electronic devices. Researchers will still have to work on improving the voltage of the battery as the current model is only capable of producing half the voltage of a typical lithium battery.

This is definitely a monumental development in smartphone and mobile technology. Battery life is a key component to any smartphone, tablet, laptop or mobile device and being able to fully charge your device in a single minute is almost unfathomable. Check out Stanford's video below for a closer look at what they have created.

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Second Chief Designer Leaves HTC in Under a Year

Just 11 months after HTC's longtime Chief of Design, Scott Croyle, was revealed to be leaving the company, one of his former allies who stepped in to fill the void has also departed. HTC has confirmed that Jonah Becker has left the company, having previously served as its head of product design. Becker and Croyle joined HTC six years ago, when their design studio One & Co was acquired by the Taiwanese company.

When the new HTC One M9 came out, the company caught a lot of heat because the design was way too close to some of the other phones that they have put out. Was this the reason that Industrial Design Lead Jonah Becker decided to leave the company? Or maybe the lazy design of the phone was a product of him just not caring that much and trying to finish the product so that he could leave on a good note? It's hard to tell what the real reason is, but it seems that he has followed Croyle out the door now that the project is done

After Croyle left the company last year, Claude Zellweger and Becker took over the industrial design team. Zellweger spent most of his time on products like the HTC Grip fitness band and Vive VR headset and Becker focused his energy on smartphones. Now that Becker is gone, Daniel Hundt is going to be taking his position. Hundt has been a part of the HTC design team for quite some time now, so things should still move fairly smooth.

According to The Verge, this is what HTC had to say on the matter:

"We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago. We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office."

Within just a month of the HTC One M9, HTC has went through a ton of huge changes. They changed CEOs, and now they are putting a new person in charge of designing smartphones. There has been a lot of concern about this, with everyone wondering if the company will be able to operate the way they always have and continue with the same amount of success. But, with these new huge changes, it does give HTC a chance at a fresh start. They could take this opportunity to be inspired by the new faces and make some really incredible things happen, just like they always have and maybe even more so.

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