The rush for a better battery is in full swing – every week seems to bring news of a new breakthrough, or at least a promising avenue of research. While most researchers concentrate on increasing energy density, and a few on improving thermal performance, a group of Korean scientists is attacking the issue of charging time.

A team of researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a lithium-ion battery that can be recharged up to 120 times faster than conventional batteries. The team believes it can build a battery pack for EVs that can be fully charged in less than a minute.

Conventional batteries recharge from the outside of the cathode inward, so the larger the cell, the longer the charge time. Breaking a battery up into smaller individual cells is only a partial solution to the problem. The Korean team synthesized carbon-coated single-crystal LiMn2O4 nanoparticle clusters as a cathode material. The material can be densely packed on the electrode – thus speeding up recharging by 30 to 120 times.

Find the full paper here.

[corrected 8/23/12 12:15 EDT: Removed references to Nanotube electrodes, which were not used in this research.]

Sources: GreenCarCongress  
Image:  Lee et al.