New Lithium-Ion Battery Recharges in 1 Minute

Toshiba's New Lithium-Ion Battery Recharges in Only One Minute


March 31, 2005 -- Toshiba Corp has announced a breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries that makes long recharge times a thing of the past. The company's new battery can recharge 80% of a battery's energy capacity in only one minute, approximately 60 times faster than the typical lithium-ion batteries in wide use today. Initial applications will be in the automotive and industrial sectors.

In addition to the conventional capabilities of the lithium-ion secondary battery, this battery has also achieved charge-discharge behavior that is equivalent to that of the electric double layer capacitor. A test cell for high-power output realized the volumetric energy density of 150- 250Wh/L and the volumetric output density of 10kW/L.

The new battery fuses Toshiba's latest advances in nano-material technology for the electric devices sector with cumulative know-how in manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells. A breakthrough technology applied to the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode.

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