The Future of Cell Phone Batteries and Charging Options

Posted on Apr 1st 2013

You’ve been out of the office all day, visiting associates, meeting with clients, and having lunch with an old, well-connected friend. You haven’t touched a computer so your phone has been your most useful tool – helping you receive and send emails, catch up with your coworkers back at the office and participate in a conference call. Now you’re on your way home and your phone rings. It’s your spouse, probably calling to ask you to pick up your daughter at the babysitter’s on your way home from work. You reach up to answer the call with your headset and – “Boop boop phone disconnected.” Your phone died. Now you have no way to get in contact with your spouse and you feel lost at sea. If only your cell phone battery lasted just a little bit longer!

Right now your best bet is to carry a portable charger with you or leave a charger in your car at all times. In the not-so-distant future, however, there may be more options. Several companies are already working on alternatives to lithium ion batteries and cable charging. Here’s an overview of what we may expect for the future of mobile-device battery life.

Wireless Charging All the Time, Everywhere

The Nokia Research Centre has been working on technology that converts ambient radio waves into electrical energy. In other words, as you walk around the office, shop at the mall, or relax at home, your cell phone would be charging using the radio waves constantly passing through the air around you. If Nokia can get it right, this is a great way to harness power that’s ever-present anyway. The success of this venture relies on the development of the technology used to harness this power.

Long-Lasting Batteries

Northwestern University has developed technology that allows lithium-ion batteries to last much longer – up to 10 times longer – and charge more quickly – 10 times faster – than the batteries in our phones now. The next step is figuring out how to manufacture the new materials for mass consumption.

Despite significant advances to lithium-ion technology, the way of the future may not involve lithium-ion batteries at all. Lithium-air, lithium-sulfur, magnesium-ion and fuel cell batteries are all possibilities in the research stage right now.

Heat-to-Electrical Energy Charging

Using your body heat or the warmth from the sun to charge your phone is a possibility for the not-too-distant future. Power Felt, developed at Wake Forest University, uses carbon nanotubes to transfer heat energy to electronic energy. The fabric can be made cheaply, a good sign that the technology will be picked up by manufacturers.