New Idea may lead to 20 second Charge Time battery over 100,000 time life cycles. While it is still not as powerful as Lithium Ion, it shows we just have to be patient and fast charging batteries are on the horizon.

This New Kind of Battery Can Be Fully Charged in Less Than 30 Seconds

A novel approach to an energy storage device run on an aqueous electrolyte can go from flat to fully-charged in just 20 seconds, making it perfect for portable electronics that frequently need a quick boost. While the concept isn't new, previous attempts have resulted in devices that suffer from low power and short working lives.

 From article, (A novel approach to an energy storage device run on an aqueous electrolyte can go from flat to fully-charged in just 20 seconds, making it perfect for portable electronics that frequently need a quick boost.

While the concept isn’t new, previous attempts have resulted in devices that suffer from low power and short working lives.

We ask a lot of power storage tech these days. Not only must it be compact, powerful, long-lasting, and quick to recharge, it also has to be environmentally friendly. Oh, and preferably not blow up if you happen to chew on it.

For those and other reasons, aqueous storage devices – those that contain water-based solutions rather than a mush of toxic or flammable organic paste – have gained some serious attention as safe and reliable options.

Although less flammable than modern lithium batteries and potentially a whole lot cheaper, the way the solution carries electrons introduces a serious problem.

The cells that make up a battery work by transferring electrons between two materials. Aqueous solutions limit the voltage range between the two points more than other solutions, resulting in the anode being eaten away faster.

That makes for a poor life span and low amounts of power – not exactly great for reliably pushing your latest smart device through the day.

So researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have put a new spin on the system, modifying the way a device called an aqueous hybrid capacitor (AHC) is constructed.

Hybrid capacitors such as these are essentially a mix of battery and capacitor – with electrodes that store their power electrochemically as an electrostatic charge. Adding an aqueous solution of ions inbetween can help carry the current.

By using graphene-based polymers instead of more traditional metallic conductors on the anode, and making the cathode with a scattering of metaloxide nanoparticles, the researchers were able to overcome the shortfalls of previous AHCs.

The web of tiny carbon fibres on the anode turns out to be far more efficient at transferring electrons into the aqueous solution, allowing for batteries with more than 100 times the power density than previous devices while still sustaining capacity for over 100,000 charges.

Better yet, the new anodes coupled with liquid electrolytes mean the whole thing can go from zero to 100 perfect with just 20 seconds of charging.

All of this is at no cost to its safety or economics.

“This eco-friendly technology can be easily manufactured and is highly applicable,” says chemist Jeung Ku Kang.

“In particular, its high capacity and high stability, compared to existing technologies, could contribute to the commercialization of aqueous capacitors.”

Since the power source doesn’t need to be a strong one, its rapid rate of charging might see it couple up neatly with photovoltaic cells or other micro-generating power sources.

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Boca Chica to be Much More Than a Launch Site to SpaceX. (Speculation.)

SpaceX contemplates Mars rocket factory on the South Texas coast

In statements provided to the Brownsville Herald, a Texan paper dedicated to a South Texas region that includes SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site, state representative René Oliveira hinted that SpaceX's plans for the region could go "well beyond conducting launches." SpaceX and South Texas The Herald's Steve Clark provided a great summary of the history between ...

From article, (State Rep. Oliveira’s statements can be seen in full below.

“About a year ago, SpaceX came to me with their concept of a new, larger, expanded plan for Boca Chica Beach,” Oliveira said. “The concept went well beyond conducting launches, and would require new commitments for construction, investment and jobs to support the new operations.”

“We looked at the original plan for the launch site, and the chain of work that would be done inside and outside on the rockets that would take off from Boca Chica. The concept SpaceX is examining would bring a lot of that work to Boca Chica, going well beyond the original plan.”

He [State Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville] declined to reveal the details of the new concept for Boca Chica, saying it’s up to SpaceX to detail its plans and associated costs when it makes a request to CCSDC to apply for funding.

The timing of SpaceX concept, reportedly presented to Oliveira in late 2016 or early 2017, strongly indicate that the rocket company is considering a considerable expansion of their aspirations for the South Texas facilities under construction. Partly based on Oliveira’s suggestion that SpaceX and Brownsville “looked at…the chain of work” necessary for rockets to launch Boca Chica, the most obvious conclusion available is that SpaceX is thinking about developing Boca Chica into a veritable rocket city.

A major problem facing SpaceX’s Mars rocket (BFR) program is dealing with the vehicle’s sheer size, 9m (30 feet) in diameter and at least as tall as Falcon 9. This size would make transporting the vehicle cross-country by road all but impossible, potentially forcing the company to abandon a bulwark of their current Falcon manufacturing strategy. The most obvious solution, as discussed briefly by CEO Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell, would be to build a rocket factory where the launch pad is located. Boca Chica is thus almost certainly a prime location under SpaceX’s consideration for both the launch complex and factory needed to build and operate BFR. And this argument has been strengthened in recent months by statements from both executives hinting that prototype BFR spaceship (BFS) tests could begin in South Texas as soon as early 2019.

To say that the creation of such a manufacturing and launch infrastructure would transform the region would be an understatement. The sheer shock value of a small city being able to lay claim to the only private orbital launch complex in the US would be valuable in its own right, not to mention the distinct possibility that such a facility might one day launch the first humans to Mars. If the educated speculation above is, in fact, the truth of the matter, SpaceX can be expected to begin earnestly petitioning the local and state governments for additional public funds to partially support the major undertaking.)

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