Now, Batteries That Never Need Recharging

Tired of mobile phones that always need recharging at the worst moments, researchers in Germany are developing a revolutionary new battery that will never need recharging.

Mobile phones, notebook computers and iPods are all dependent on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to deliver power. But the German researchers have developed a new class of inorganic ionic conductor with a structure analogous to that of the mineral argyrodite.

A team led by Hans-Joerg Deiseroth in Siegen, Germany, reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie that the characterisation of the most conductive representative of the man-made argyrodite minerals was made of lithium, phosphorus, sulphur and bromine atoms.

In ionic conductors, charge is not transported in the form of electrons as it is in metals. Instead, the charge is transported in the form of charged particles, typically lithium ions. This transport requires materials in which the lithium ions can move as freely as possible.